By Roger Carswell

Every time I stand in front of a group of people to speak about Christ, I get stirred in my heart. What a privilege to share the gospel with men and women. There is no joy quite like it! Usually, I find myself engaged in conversation with people who want to know more, or have questions they are yearning to ask. However, sometimes, the reaction of those who are listening is far from warm. I want to engage with all types of people, but to do so can be costly.

There are occasions when I have been “frozen” by the audience to whom I am speaking. In some school assemblies, or University refectories, or even more traditional settings, there is an atmosphere you can feel, though nobody has said anything, that conveys the notion, “We don’t want to hear what you are saying”. Little or nothing is said afterwards, but you know that the gospel message has not gone down well. That inevitably creates an ache in the heart. Who doesn’t want affirmation? A friend once said to me, “Happiness is not in your job description!” And yet, everyone who is involved in proclaiming Christ, one-to-one, or one-to-a-crowd wants to believe that what has been said has been appreciated.

Moses knew the hurt of not being appreciated. “He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.” (Acts 7 v. 25, 39, 51 – 53, and cf Psalm 106 v. 7). That misunderstanding cost him dearly.

The desire for affirmation can become so compelling that it is tempting to succumb to its lure. It starts with a process where one changes first some of the words and phrases, then the emphasis of the message and finally the message itself. It can happen very subtlety. But it is dangerous, for we can find ourselves simply tickling itching ears.

There is another temptation to omit some less palatable aspects of the gospel, so that what one says is correct, but some key truths are simply never mentioned. It is all too easy to become what CS Lewis called “an accommodating preacher”, and water down the Word of God. Michael Watts in his booklet “Why the English stopped going to church” argues that the decline in church attendance began around 1850, when because of the desire to be respected and reputable both hell and the substitutionary atonement of Christ began not to be taught.

We die to what we preach

When Stephen preached in Acts 7, the crowd listened, until he faithfully applied the message. Then they turned against him, and he became the first Christian martyr. In Greek, the word “witness” is based on the same word as “martyr”. To preach faithfully, means that we must be willing to die to self. Every preacher must deny himself, take up the cross and proclaim the word of God. I have heard preachers who are great communicators, and even very funny comedians, who to my mind at least, have not been faithful preachers of the word. The words we proclaim must be spirit and life. It is not “woe is me if I do not wow or woo the audience”. It is not even “woe is me if I do not preach what Jesus has done for me”, but “woe is me if I do not preach the gospel”. Without fear or favour let us preach what God has given us recognising that God is in the audience, and it is He whom we must please.

The greatest lesson in homiletics, the study of preaching, is that the preacher has to be willing to die to the clamour for the applause of the audience; the building of a good reputation; the excitement of giving “a good word”, and the thrill of knowing that one is regarded as a gifted preacher. “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for God’s sake.” (2 Corinthians 4 v. 5). Oswald Chambers said: “Never water down the word of God, preach it in its undiluted sternness; there must be unflinching loyalty to the word of God; but when you come to personal dealing with your fellow men, remember who you are – not a special being made up in heaven, but a sinner saved by grace.”

We die to how we preach

I would have loved to hear Paul preach, and if I had, I would have listened to a man who deliberately did not rely on himself, but on God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1 v. 9). He did not proclaim the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. Instead he determined to know nothing among the people except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He preached with weakness, and in fear, and with much trembling. His words were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power (1 Corinthians 2 v. 1 – 4). His authority and power rested not in his method of preaching, but in the source of his message, which was the word of God.

This does not mean that we should not prepare to communicate well. It does mean that our dependence is upon God, and not on ourselves. God knows what is the truth, and we are presumptuous if we feel we can juggle the words and themes of the Bible to make them more palatable to today’s audience. The preacher must never be a detractor from Jesus, but one who cries in clear, certain and compassionate words, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Neither does it mean that because I have the truth of God’s word, I can speak aggressively and arrogantly. We read of the Lord that He did not shout or cry out in the street. (Isaiah 42 v.2). He was tender, compassionate and winsome, and so should we be. Humility should adorn the Christian preacher, whose authority comes from God and not from himself, his studies or his abilities. “This is what God says” will be his watchword.

Humour, anecdotes, illustrations, alliteration, balanced sentences and a host of other means of attracting and keeping attention are surely right, but they must never be a means of drawing attention to the preacher, rather than the Lord. And if appreciation is given at the end of a message, then we give the Lord all the glory. Corrie Ten Boon, when thanked after she had spoken, received the appreciation as if she had been given a rose. At the end of a day she would love to present to the Lord a bouquet of roses, recognising that all she had been able to do was because of the Lord.

We die to whom we preach

If the preacher is to die to self, it will affect where he ministers, as well as how he ministers. The Lord preached in cities and to large crowds, but also in villages and to individuals. It is wonderful to be given large opportunities. However, it is my conviction that as so much of Christian activity (at least in the UK) is done in small works, it is right to go to the struggling causes as well as the successful ones, to go to small CUs as well as those bursting at the seams.

Also, dying to self means that the preacher will proclaim the gospel to the poor as well as the wealthy. Everyone has the right to hear the good news of Jesus. We are neither to neglect the affluent, nor turn away from the cry of the poor. Heaven will be filled with people from every tribe and language and people and nation, and every class and intellectual ability. The Church is not an exclusive group. The Lord is able to supply all our needs, and He can make up the “losses” for the times when what we receive does not cover costs incurred.

Our aim in proclaiming is not to impress, but to simply express eternal truth so that all may hear and understand. Martin Luther said, “When I preach I regard neither doctors nor magistrates, of whom I have above forty in my congregation; I have all my eyes on the servant maids and on their children. And if the learned men are not well-pleased with what they hear, well, the door is open”.

We die to when we preach

Paul’s final charge to young Timothy was to “preach the word; be instant in season and out of season”. I have known preachers who give their word, and then walk by those who listened unwilling to talk to any of them. Proclamation though, is as much one-to-one, when there is a seeking or hurting soul, as it is speaking to the crowds. To break the hard heart or heal the broken one is exhausting work, but it is what we are called to. And what better way to spend and be spent? It may be that we will come an age in life when we are too old to be preaching in pulpits, but there never comes a time when we are to be silent about the Lord. Again, Paul, a pattern-believer, at the end of his life in Rome, from morning until evening expounded, testified and persuaded people about the Lord from the Word.

Isaiah preached faithfully and was sawn in half. Jeremiah preached faithfully and was mocked and imprisoned. John the Baptist preached faithfully, and was beheaded. Stephen preached faithfully and was stoned to death. Ridley and Latimer, and a host of others in Europe preached faithfully and were burned at the stake. Richard Wurmbrandt preached faithfully and was put in solitary confinement for fourteen years. If we proclaim faithfully, we too will have to die, at least to self, and perhaps to more. The Lord, who made Himself of no reputation and went to the cross, tells of the blessing there is in dying to self: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it forever.” (John 12 v. 24 & 25)