The Empty Pulpit

Attributive: 

Value is attributed to particular items because they possess in of themselves a set worth.  The establishment of pioneer trade was superseded by the development of artificial money which found its currency through the possession of gold.  Though the representation of gold no longer is an undergirding basis for the publication of paper money, the set value of a particular dollar amount is attributed through the respective economical system.

Likewise, the importance of the pulpit is not, fundamentally, rendered through the instrumental means of the preacher.  The value of the sermon is not indicative of the educational background of the clergyman nor his intellectual gifting.  Preaching, like I have tried to convey to my fellow ministers, is not necessarily built upon the art of rhetoric or an extravagant presentation, but rather in the nature of the Word.

Preaching . . . is not necessarily built upon the art of rhetoric or an extravagant presentation, but rather in the nature of the Word. 

The value of the sermon in the congregational gathering of the saints is mounted upon the fact that the church seeks to posture themselves in a manner of humility to hear the voice of God.  The preacher is merely the conduit to which God uses to proclaim the Word of God via Scripture.  Through the proclamation of the Word the Spirit does the work of illumination in bringing forth understanding and transformation—individually and corporately.  The Word, as Louis Berkhof states, is not "only the principium cognoscendi of theology, but it is also the means which the Holy Spirit employs for the extension of the Church and for the edification and nourishment of the saints. It is pre-eminently the word of God's grace, and therefore also the most important means of grace."1 The exercise of preaching is not merely public speaking, but a supernatural engagement in hearing from the Lord and moving in obedience for His Name sake.

Theology Matters:

Most pulpits within the scope of evangelicalism, and for my particular context the Hmong District of the C&MA, do not move past the rhetorical component of a lecture.  Most "sermons" are an attempt to convey information or, at best, mimic Ted Talks.

The fundamental reason for such a lack of proclamation is grounded, through my estimation, in the absence of doctrinal conviction.  Conviction is built upon observing truth and allowing that truth through the power of the Spirit to penetrate the heart and bleed onto the canvas of every day life.  Before it can become methodology (ex. preaching style, presentation, rhetoric, etc.) it must first be a flame within the belly of the preacher which has been produced through the supernatural commitment to the Scriptures. The Bible is not merely ancient literature, but the very words of God.

Conviction is built upon observing truth and allowing that truth through the power of the Spirit to penetrate the heart and bleed into the canvas of every day life.

Discovering the Distinction Between Sermon and Lecture:

I have heard Christians compliment preachers by saying, "Thanks for giving the Word of God." Not that I want to burst anyone's bubble, but I have come to question such a statement.  What constitutes as giving the Word of God? By what standard are we measuring the giving of the Word?

Early on in my ministry career I was hesitant to voice my concerns, but the more I sat through stretches of attempted stand-up comedy or cultural lectures the more I am concerned that our understanding of preaching has fallen to the wayside.  If it goes unchecked we will produce a generation ignorant of the beauty of Gospel proclamation.

The Reformers understood the centrality of the Word; hence Sola Scriptura.  They embodied not merely the conceptual component to that tag line, but personified the reality of it through the exposition of the text.  John Calvin writes in his institutes, "We must come, I say, to the Word, where God is truly and vividly described to us from His works, while these very works are appraised not by our depraved judgement but by the rule of eternal truth."2  The Word in our preaching can not merely be proof-texted in order to affirm one's disposition, but rather should be the central basis of our thought pattern.

The Word in our preaching can not merely be proof-texted in order to affirm one's disposition, but rather should be the central basis of our thought pattern. 

Listed below are a few thoughts in distinguishing between a sermon and a lecture.

Stick to the Text:

I was appreciative of Mark Driscoll's statement prior to his lecture at the Resurgence Conference in 2013 (available on YouTube: click here).  He was adamant in communicating that what he was about to do was lecture and not preach.  He went on to give statistical analysis and content in regards to the sociological shift of American culture in light of Christianity.  Again, what he did was give a lecture; not preach.

The central tenants of preaching is not conveying one's research material, but rather the proclaiming of God's Word to the life of the saints.  Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth" (Jn. 17:17).  "In the pulpit," according to Brian Chapell, "we are expositors, not authors. Sermons explain what the Bible says."3 To feed the sheep we must give them life, and the life we give them is through the Word.  This notion is reaffirmed by Timothy Keller when he says, "If, however, you believe that the preaching of the Word is one of the main channels for God's action in the world, then with great care and confidence you will uncover the meaning of the text, fully expecting that God's Spirit will act in listeners' lives."4

Proclaiming News:

In the art of preaching and teaching there are overlapping components. To some, preaching and teaching can be held conceptually as synonymous.  If one preaches he teaches, and if he teaches he preaches.  Yet, with further analysis one can begin to see that there are direct distinctions between the two.

Teaching, which finds itself within the realm of preaching, is conveying, according to Lawrence O. Richards and Gary J. Bredfeldt, information in an orderly and structural format that allows the learner to engage in meaning.5 The art of teaching has as its core the transferring of information from one individual to the next.

Preaching, on the other hand, is proclaiming news.  According to John Piper "preaching could be defined as the heralding of good news from a messenger sent by God."6 Preaching is not merely relaying information, but rather heralding a state of truth or proclaiming a reality.  Teaching can fall under preaching, but only in service to the heralding of truth from God to the world.

We must be careful because in our pulpits we may be relaying information, but we may not always be heralding Good News.

We must be careful because in our pulpits we may be relaying information, but we may not always be heralding Good News.

Christ Centered:

If preaching is fundamentally the proclamation of the Word, then centering within His Word is the work and Person of Jesus Christ.  Much of our preaching can be centered upon morality, cultural etiquette, or intellectual jargon; but if it lacks Christ we have not preached a sermon; we have merely given a lecture.  Piper urges us in saying that "the cross becomes the ground of the objective validity of preaching and the ground of the subjective humility of preaching."7

Preachers must give their people Christ.  If Paul is true (which I believe he is), "faith comes through hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17), the preacher must not only exposit the text but proclaim the truths of God's Word in revealing the majesty and grander of Christ Jesus Himself.  Without the proclamation of Christ the preacher is not preaching but lecturing.

The Value of the Pulpit is Found in God:

Standing in front of people and conveying ideas can be a simple ordinary act of public speaking.  But opening up the Word of God to the community of saints is embarking in a supernatural practice.  It is the engagement of hearing the Word of God proclaimed, and allowing the Spirit of God to draw the hearts of the church to Himself for His glory and the good of His people.  John M. Frame articulates this well in saying, "It is important that we understand God's Word not only as a communication of linguistic content to our minds, though it is that, but as a great power that makes things happen."8 It must be understood that the drawing of unbelief to belief, the sanctity and edification of the saints, and the oversight of the church is all grounded in the active Word of God.  If the Word of God is as powerful as it says it is; to not preach from the Scriptures would be to deny the voice of God to the community of saints.  Preachers must preach and not merely lecture.

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*footnotes

1. Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Louisville: GLH Publishing, 2017), 521. 

2. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion Volume 1. ed. John T. McNeil (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 73.

3. Brian Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 59.

4. Timothy Keller, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Viking, 2015), 35. 

5. Lawrence O. Richards and Gary J. Bredfeldt, Creative Bible Teaching (Chicago: Moody Press, 1998), 115. 

6. John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, 2000), 22. 

7. Ibid., 29. 

8. John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Word of God (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2010), 50. 
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McYoung Yang (M. Div, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the husband of Debbie Yang and the father to McCayden (8), McCoy (7), McColsen (5), and DeYoung (1).  He has recently accepted the position of Associate Professor of Theology at Crown College in Saint Bonifacius, MN and will begin teaching in the Fall of 2017. He is currently serving as a Youth Counsel member of the Youth Ministry of the Hmong District in the C&MA.  He hopes to use his training and platform as a means to serve the local church in living life through the Gospel lens. McYoung enjoys reading/writing, sports, and playing with his children. 

The Spirit Misplaced

A Theological Dilemma:

The tendency in stumbling into the hyper-charasmatic mania which has swept through much of the church in recent days is rooted, in my estimation, to the anemic theological condition of the local church.  The syncretistic nature of fusing eastern animistic culture with western hollywoodized spirituality has bred a false sense of the Spirit in the life of the believer.  The impulse in longing for the Spirit that is divorced from the trinitarian nature of the Godhead is a common mishap that is present within the current trend of spirituality.  This type of functional theology is mounted on an "experiential Christianity" that gives limited regard to sound doctrine.1  Again, the emphasis is upon the experience rather than the systematic gathering of biblical data—better known as doctrine.

Worship in Spirit and in Truth: 

Jesus was clear on His description of the type of people God was in search for.  The Creator "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (Jn 4:24).  This dynamic is nothing further from the truth.  The clear expressive nature of those who would seek after God would be grounded upon the genuine cry of the spirit which is saturated in truth.  The commentator, DA Carson, expresses this notion rightly in saying, "There are not two separable characteristics of the worship that must be offered: it must be 'in spirit and truth', i. e. essentially God-centred, made possible by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in personal knowledge of the conformity to God's Word-made-flesh, the one who is God's 'truth', the faithful exposition and [fulfillment] of God and His saving purpose."2

Worship is more than thinking biblically, 

but never less.

Therefore, the experiential component to worship must not be devoid of truth.  Worship is more than thinking biblically, but never less.  The art of biblical thinking is interwoven into the tapestry of worship which grants it substance and depth.  Thinking (theologically), then, serves the heart in feeling emotions that are built upon eternal truths which are "yes and amen" in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 1:20).

What We Mean When We Say "God":

It is no secret that the trinitarian formula of the God-head is complicated to say the least.  For some of us (if not all), the math does not seem to add up.  Simply put, three Persons; one God.  Three distinct Persons sharing in the one divine nature.  Robert Letham is helpful in articulating this reality when he writes,

God is one being, three Persons, and three Persons, one being. The indivisible Trinity consists of three irreducibly distinct Persons. Their distinctness or difference is in no way whatever erased, obliterated, or eroded by the union. But the union is real, eternal, and indivisible. The three are one identical being.3

Therefore, when Christians speak of God they are inherently speaking of the trinitarian God of the bible.  God, for Christians, is grounded in the three Persons which is made up of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  If God is, like Letham claims, indivisible; when we call upon the Christian God we are calling upon God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God, for Christians, 

is grounded in the three Persons 

which is made up of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Historical Fallacy of Modalism:

The inability to hold conceptually the indivisibility of the triune God has led to, within church history, many heretical views.  One of which came during the early patristic era in the form of modalism.  Modalism, according to Gregg Allison, "held that there is one God who can be designated by three different names—"Father," "Son," and "Holy Spirit"—at different times, but these three are not distinct persons. Instead, they are different modes (thus, modalism) of the one God."4 The modalist conceives that God is one while displaying Himself in three different forms or modes; namely "Father," "Son," or "Holy Spirit."

This fallacy came under fire and the early church sought hard to think biblically about this topic.  Establishing a foundational understanding of God was imperative in setting the precedent of worship and belief in the life of the church of Christ.  Though opponents rose up to question the trinitarian nature of the God-head and the deity of Christ, God preserved His people through the establishment of the councils and creeds.  Justin S. Holcomb articulates this truth in saying, "The Nicene Creed is perhaps the most famous and influential creed in the history of the church, because it settled the question of how Christians can worship one God and also claim that this God is three Persons."5

Practical Engagement with the Spirit:

All this to say, the theological framework that has been formulated above is to give guidance to the practical application of the trinitarian understanding of God.  Our thoughts of God, when submitted to the revelatory work of Scripture, will inform our belief systems in such a way as to bleed into the fabric of every day life.

Our thoughts of God, when submitted to the revelatory work of Scripture, will inform our belief systems in such a way as to bleed into the fabric of every day life.

If, then, God in trinitarian understanding is indivisible in nature, the hyper-charismatic desire to focus solely upon the work of the Holy Spirit is misguided and ill informed.  To strive for such a nuance is to fall prey to modalistic tendencies.  In order to operate within trinitarianism one much understand that the ministry of the Holy Spirit will in turn magnify the work of Christ in the hearts of believers which will lead to the honoring of God the Father.  The engagement of each Person of the God-head will in turn employ the remaining members.  For example, embracing the Son will grant access to the Father who will send the Holy Spirit.  Furthermore, the pursuit of the Father will give rise to the Son who in turns give the gift of the Spirit.  Michael Reeves articulates this trinitarian relation well in saying, "[The Persons of the God-head] are who they are together. They always are together, and thus they always work together."6

Renew the Mind: 

In the midst of false doctrine and uninformed practice the church must stand upon the truth of Scripture in teaching sound doctrine for the glory of God and the betterment of His people.  Genuine sheep are being led astray by the false notion of spirituality that has deeper roots in eastern animism than biblical orthodoxy.  Pastor elders must toil in the ministry of the Word to exposit biblical truth in order to renew the minds of their parishioners for the sake of Christ's Name. It is imperative to see that the genuine fruit of engagement with the Spirit is the magnifying of Christ Jesus Himself.  The work of the Paraclete is that "He (the Spirit) will glorify Me (Jesus)" (Jn. 16:14).  Is our worship trinitarian in form?
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*footnotes

1. Frederick Dale Bruner. A Theology of the Holy Spirit: The Pentecostal Experience of the New Testament Witness (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publisher, 1976), 21. 

2. D. A. Carson. The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publisher Company, 1991), 225.

3. Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2004), 466. 

4. Gregg R. Allison, Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 235-236.

5. Justin S. Holcomb, Know The Creeds and Councils (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 33. 

6. Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IVP Academic, 2012), 34.
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McYoung Yang (Mdiv, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the husband of Debbie Yang and the father to McCayden (8), McCoy (7), McColsen (5), and DeYoung (1).  He has recently accepted the position of Associate Professor of Theology at Crown College in Saint Bonifacius, MN and will begin teaching in the Fall of 2017. He is currently serving as a Youth Counsel member of the Youth Ministry of the Hmong District in the C&MA.  He hopes to use his training and platform as a means to serve the local church in living life through the Gospel lens. McYoung enjoys reading/writing, sports, and playing with his children.