Sermon Tone Analysis

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”[1]

*/Let your conscience be your guide/*.

*/If it feels good, do it/*.

*/Follow your heart/*.

Consciously or unconsciously, maxims such as these provide direction for our lives, even though we may not always think of them as proverbs.

Adages that become common with a given population reflect the received knowledge of that society.

It is almost as though such aphorisms are a polite way of saying, “everybody knows.”

Saws like these serve to justify the attitudes and actions of far too many people, including the professed people of God.

Just so, McNugget theology has replaced preaching in modern churches.

McNugget theology gives a few spicy thoughts instead of demanding intellectual rigour.

Christians increasingly demand entertainment; to a distressing extent, this desire to be amused is reflected through multimedia presentations instead of exposition of the Word.

This expectation is increasingly evident in the choice of praise music on the basis of rhythm and musical titillation at the expense of doctrinal accuracy.

It does not seem an impossible task, in my estimate, to have both musical excellence and doctrinal accuracy, but if a choice must be made, let us always seek doctrinal fidelity.

The Apostle warned that the time is coming “when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”

I wonder whether that time has now arrived.

Years ago, A. W. Tozer saw that the churches were attempting to amuse people into the Kingdom of God.

That godly man decried elders and deacons who insisted that if churches only had more movies, provided “Christian” dance, presented more lively music, the lost would then flock to the churches.

On one occasion the saintly savant wrote, “Pastors and churches in our hectic times are harassed by the temptation to seek size at any cost and to secure by inflation what they cannot gain by legitimate growth.

The mixed multitude cries for quantity and will not forgive a minister who insists upon solid values and permanence.

Many a man of God is being subjected to cruel pressure by the ill-taught members of his flock who scorn his slow methods and demand quick results and a popular following regardless of quality.

These children play in the marketplaces and cannot overlook the affront we do them by our refusal to dance when they whistle or to weep when they out of caprice pipe a sad tune.

They are greedy for thrills, and since they dare no longer seek them in the theatre, they demand to have them brought into the church.”[2]

These words explain why he became increasingly unpopular as the years passed.

What at first was refreshingly honest became tiresome as the listeners resisted the Word and its work in their lives.

At one point, it was said that Tozer had addressed more Christian conferences than any other speaker then serving among the churches.

By the end of his ministry, he was excluded from more conferences than any speaker then living.

Prophetic preaching was unpopular among the churches of that bygone era.

Time has not changed the popular assessment—prophetic preaching is still unpopular.

*The Charge* — “Preach the word.”

When Paul writes of “the foolishness of preaching” in *1 Corinthians 1:21*, I am truly fascinated.

I have frequently pondered the thought that “God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.”[3]

The concept is lively and evocative.

In my early years of faith I used the *King James Version* of the Bible, so I have been familiar with the phrase since my conversion to Christ.

However, the phrase, “the foolishness of preaching” conveys a concept that is liable to misunderstanding.

In *1 Corinthians 1:21*, it is */kērugma/*, the message heralded that is rejected; in *1 Corinthians 1:23*, it is */kēruxìs/*, the act of heralding, that is ridiculed by the world; the proclamation is declared to be “moronic” (*/morían/*).

The Greek indicates that it is both the content of the message that is preached and the event of preaching itself that is considered as folly by those outside the Faith.

Both the message and the act of preaching itself are offensive to the unconverted; and since the churches of Christendom are increasingly composed of unregenerate people, we should not be surprised that those in attendance at our services find strong doctrine offensive.

I love Christian music.

It is of small moment to me whether I am singing the great hymns of the Faith, black spirituals or whether I am singing lively contemporary choruses of praise to God, music is intimately a part of worship for me.

I find myself moving as the music grips my soul, and it would be easy for me to break into joyful dance as God is glorified.

However, God has not chosen to use music as the primary means for presenting His message of life.

The fact that some are transformed through considering the words of a song emphasises the exception instead of establishing a norm.

It is the preaching of the Word that builds saints and transforms the soul of lost mankind.

Christian drama can certainly move the soul and glorify the Lord Christ.

Throughout the years of my pilgrimage I have been privileged to view a number of excellent dramatic presentations that moved me deeply.

However, it was not drama that God chose to build up the saints and to redeem the lost.

It is the message of life proclaimed by one’s fellowman that transforms the individual, bringing the lost to life.

Without doubt, the graceful movement of men and women as they perform an interpretive dance can serve to transfix observers, but the message of Christ is conveyed most effectively and with the least possibility of being misunderstood through the open proclamation of the Word of God by one appointed to his task by God.

Though the message today applies to every Christian in that each believer is responsible to declare Christ at every opportunity, in particular it is those who have received appointment as elders who are held responsible by this charge.

Moreover, the people of God, the churches that receive those elders whom God has appointed, are responsible to hold the elders to the divine task of proclaiming the Word of God.

The *New English Bible* translates *verse two* of the text before us in a scintillating and exceptionally clear manner.

The translators beautifully capture the Apostle’s ardour, “proclaim the message, press it home on all occasions, convenient or inconvenient.”[4]

The man of God must seize every opportunity to declare the message of Christ the Lord, whether those about him wish to hear the message or whether they wish only to be entertained.

It is of no consequence whether the man of God proclaims the message of life in a public forum or privately, in a mass meeting or one-on-one, the burden of God remains that he must proclaim the message.

Moreover, if a church will truly be a Baptist church, that congregation will exalt the act of preaching, adhering to the apostolic Word.

I particularly enjoy visiting church buildings, and especially historic church buildings.

I enjoy seeing where God’s people meet for worship week-by-week.

I make no claim to being architecturally adroit, but I have nevertheless made some observations concerning church buildings.

I have taken note of the design of church buildings used by different communions and I have witnessed the emphasis of those churches.

Churches holding a sacramental view of worship almost always place the pulpit to one side of the chancel and before the nave.

These same churches usually situate the altar, and perhaps the baptistery, at the centre of the chancel, effectively saying that the sacraments, rather than the preaching of the Word, will be central to their worship.

Baptists, however, are neither sacerdotalists nor sacramentalists.

Rather, Baptists have always been distinguished by an emphasis upon preaching the Word of God.

Accordingly, Baptists place the pulpit at the centre and before the congregation.

There, the Bible will be read and the message of life delivered.

This arrangement of the furniture in auditorium is an unconscious affirmation of the centrality of preaching—the pulpit, or the lectern, being central to worship.

Whenever a church ceases to make preaching central to worship, it will cease to be a Baptist church.

Baptists have, historically, been distinguished by expository preaching.

They emphasise doctrine—the truths that God has presented in His Word.

This doctrinal emphasis is expressed through sound biblical exposition.

When I say that Baptists have distinguished themselves by expository preaching, I mean that they have carefully adhered to the text.

The great preachers of the Faith have used a portion of the Word of God, whether a verse or a chapter or some particular pericope, and they have carefully presented that portion of the Word.

As they provided an exposition of that portion of the Word, they carefully explained what the original hearers or readers would have understood the writing to mean, and then they have applied the intent of the Scripture to the present generation.

The Baptist message has throughout the whole of history been, “Thus saith the Lord!”

It should be no great surprise that I enjoy reading the messages of the great preachers of years gone by, just as I enjoy reading the messages preached in some of the great pulpits of this day.

During the course of my reading, I have made an observation concerning great preachers and their impact on the great churches of history.

There has never been a great preacher who made a lasting impact for the Faith who was not an expository preacher.

Perhaps a church would make a temporary stir in the Christian community when the preacher was a topical preacher or when the preacher was a textual preacher, but expositors of the Word build strong churches and create great saints.

I enjoy Chicken McNuggets.

Truthfully, three McNuggets are not enough to satisfy me.

I want a full-meal deal when I eat; and because I am concerned about my health, I want to balance my diet with vegetables, grains, and dairy products in addition to the meat I crave.

No mother would approve of her child eating three McNuggets and calling it a meal.

Certainly, she wouldn’t permit that to go on day-after-day.

In the same way, a few ethical nuggets here and there are insufficient to create strong Christians, but a full course of expository preaching will with time make strong Christians.

Unfortunately, we live in a day when far too many professed saints of God are dyspeptic because they have been fed a steady diet of moral or ethical nuggets.

You will never regret encouraging your preachers to “preach the Word.”

*The Urgency of the Charge* — “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word.”

Baptists live in the shadow of eternity.

Because we are a people of the Book, we are convinced that Jesus Christ the Lord shall momentarily appear to judge wickedness and to usher in righteousness.

Our Lord Jesus Christ presented Himself once as a sacrifice for sin, and now we await His promised appearing a second time.

Now, we wait for the fulfillment of this glorious promise.

I am personally convinced that one day I shall stand before the Son of God to give an account for the ministry He assigned me [see *Hebrews 13:17*].

I fear God and that holy fear impels me to make every effort to fulfil the ministry He assigned me.

When I appear before Him, I do not believe that He will ask how many quarrels I settled, or how many nights I worked late in the office, or even how many visits I made to disgruntled saints.

He will, however, ask me to account what I have preached—whether I rightly handled the Word.

Did I keep watch over the flock, teaching the Word of God accurately and passionately?

Did I feel the weight of eternity as I prayed for souls, holding men to account through the preached Word?

These are the issues that the Saviour will demand of me, and of all who labour as teachers of the Word while they wait for His appearing.