On Preaching: Proper Focus

A while back I receieved an email from a friend on why their church has laymen within the church fill the pulpit. It was so good, that I thought others might benefit from reading it.

Click here to read the full list

1. It focuses the people on the Word of God, not the preacher. Our fleshly desire is that our ears would be tickled, but God wishes to be the center of attention and multiple preachers almost forces the people in the church to look for God in the message instead of the giftedness or the entertainments of the man preaching.
2. If the preaching is God centered and Word centered, it directs the affections of the people toward God and not the gifts of a man. The best thing church leaders can do for the people is to cast a vision of God.
3. It reveals to you your own heart, that you would rather have a great preacher and your ears tickled than to grapple with the words of scripture as your source of spiritual nourishment.
4. It broadens the church with the different perspectives of men in the church. I have heard it said that most preachers really have only about ten sermons that you hear no matter what they speak about.
5. It is an equipping experience for the man because the process of study, prayer, contemplation of God, introspection and struggle sends him into a crisis of the soul.
6. It helps the man preaching see how stupid he really is and works to humble him.
7. It saves the church from having the best attendance when the big preacher is in town, and less attendance when the “pulpit supply” guy is preaching and the very worst attendance when the missionary is speaking and unthinkabley abominable attendance when the service is for prayer – as is the pattern all around us. This reminds me of Voddie Baucham who says, “if you can’t say AMEN, say OUCH.
8. It prepares men to plant churches
9. It helps men, women, boys and girls grow up into maturity by keeping them from an entertainment mentality.
10. It helps the gifted preacher grow up by helping him understand that he is not the only one who can minister to the church.
11. It tortures the man by sending him through several crises (trials) that lead him to joy.
1. With himself – because he sees his own inadequacy.
2. With God – because he knows that in the light of the passage he is dealing with, he is a sinner.
3. With the people of God – because he knows he must bring the knowledge of Almighty God to the people.
4. With his schedule: - because it is very time consuming and it will challenge him to be more disciplined with his time during the week he is supposed to preach.
12. It gives all the people in the church an opportunity to experience the joy of watching men grow.
13. It keeps the church from leaving fellowship and “one anothering” in the dust. If you have one great preacher who is viewed as the center of the church, it is easier to forget the importance of operating like a family and a body.

Ultimately though, our prayer is that this practice will have the effect that John the Baptist expressed in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease".

I'm interested to see what others think about this, and I have a few thoughts of my own that I'll be posting in the days to come.