Expository Preaching as an Act of Neighbor-Love

We are meant to preach the Bible in such a way that the preaching itself, out of love for God, is an act of neighbor-love. I did not know this or know how to practice this as a younger preacher. I struggle still to learn what this means. Its almost like I felt that because I was called to preach the Bible, that calling, trumped the prior and equal call upon my life to love my neighbor. The damage to what expository preaching is meant to accomplish was apparent in me. I have come to learn that I am not alone.

Here are some signs to look for to notice if our preaching is beginning to disregard love. You may be saying what the text says in context and pointing to Jesus, yet something is going awry.

Check out your tone. If I needn’t love my neighbor by the way I preach, then I can yell at someone, mock their voice, tritely disregard their current understanding of things, guilt them or excuse them without qualification, or belittle what they believed in a way that I would never do if they were in my home or if I was in theirs. Notice if you begin to resemble more of the political talk-show banter or late night talk-show humor than of the way Jesus actually speaks to people in the Gospels.  Remember, to love my neighbor is to have the mind of Christ who humbled himself, served others, not considering equality with God something to be grasped (Philippians 2). I am meant to esteem others as better than myself. I am called to giving cold water, prayer and gospel disruption even to my thirsty, hurtful and grace-less enemies (Matthew 6). Even those who oppose me I am gently to instruct (I Timothy 5). It seems that preaching should uphold in its form what it means to love an enemy. It is difficult to imagine Jesus telling a joke about the President; making a mocking or belittling voice to mimick a person, or disparaging a person’s view of the world without care, fairness, or thoughtful invitation. Therefore let us be careful if we see such things in our approach.

Check out what you believe is required to feel faithful to God as a preacher. You do not want to be soft on sin. Things change so slowly in the pastorate. This combination can lead you to preach with impatience or frustration. You might even feel that you are not faithful to God unless you are frustrated and loud. Remind yourself of the following question: “If I need God’s Spirit to attend my preaching, and if the fruit of that Spirit consists of gentleness, peace, love, joy, self-c0ntrol, patience, kindness and faithfulness; than what does Spirit-empowered preaching look like?” If you ever think that harsh, restless, mean-spirited, frowning, frenzied, impatient, unkind, hurried proclamation is necessary to be truly earnest for God in the pulpit and not accommodating to the age you live in, you are sliding into dangerous territory and need gracious re-direction.

Remember how rare gracious speech is and how normal fleshly speech is: this latter kind of communication is the more natural and normal kind that anyone can find regularly in the world. What surprises a non-Christian person is not the venom or ridicule of a biblical preacher, this they expect. What they do not expect is someone who speaks passionately about the footsteps and teachings of Jesus with a manner that resembles the character of Jesus and pictures for them what it must have been like for Him to pursue His neighbors amid their broken strategies of trying to make life work apart from God. It was a grace of love that they did not expect and had rarely experienced anywhere in church life or the world. You are meant to resemble something of Jesus in the way you approach people. His grace will move you in these directions for their sakes. It is easy to preach with the fruits of the flesh. It is His grace to preach in the fruit and power of His Spirit. He is ready and able to minister to you and remind you of Himself.

Watch out for caricatures of the prophets. When you hear yourself saying:  ”To love requires us to say hard things.” Remember, I am not suggesting that we avoid saying hard things. The kind of preaching that refuses to speak earnestly, authentically and truthfully is another matter. For the moment, ask yourself if you are suggesting that  hard things have to be spoken in a hard way for God to work? If you hear yourself saying, “yes, because the prophets spoke hard things in a hard way. And therefore you want to follow their lead,” then counter in this way to yourself. “Am I certain that it is their lead that I am following and not just the caricatures I sometimes unwittingly make of them or my own illegitimate outbursts that I want to justify by them?” Remind yourself for example:

• Habbakuk is a song. The prophecies of the Psalms are poetry and music.
• The harshest words spoken by the prophets were almost always for Covenant people and less often for those outside.
• The concern was lament for the loss of covenant love. Widows were oppressed, people were misused, neighbors were unloved. We were meant to love our neighbors. Likewise, worship was empty, voices were raised, sacrifices were made, but the heart had something other than God in its place of allegiance. We were meant to love God. If we yell, it is for the sake of love. If we are angry it is because love has been broken like a stick over our knees. Earnestness for a return to covenant love has little to do with an enjoyment of condemning others or believing that a tone of voice measures one’s faithfulness to God.
• The prophets also spoke with metaphor, song, reasoning together and promise. They were men of tears too.
• An unsettling thing in this regard is to walk through the Gospels as if for the first time. Notice that Jesus uses the speech of the priest and sage nearly the whole of his ministry–even with tax collectors and sinners. It is with the pharisees and sadducees that Jesus eventually takes up the prophetic mantel and says, “Woe to you.” He spoke in no such terms to the woman at the well or Zaccaeus or his disciples. The Sermon on the Mount, the parables, the narratives do not carry this mocking or harsh tone. In fact, His harshest tone and manner was with those inside and not outside of the church.

Remember how Jesus has pursued you. Remember your story. How has Jesus spoken to you to draw Him to yourself and to nurture you all along the way until now? Is He always yelling and belittling and demeaning and trampling upon you? Is He constantly saying “Woe” without mercy, patience, kindness, love, joy, etc? Jesus has given you a cup of water. He has washed your feet. He has listened, inquired, searched your heart, given you time, listened again, and called out to you. He has convicted you with love, exposed you with grace, and with mercy has covered your nakedness and taught you day by day patiently to walk. He died for you and rose for you. He loved you as a neighbor in God’s eyes would.  What does it mean to preach to others with the same gracious neighbor-love that you yourself have needed and received from Jesus?

What do you think?