Jana Childers Sermons

Articles 20VN | Preaching the Gospel - Why is It Difficult ...

Martin Luther declared, "How difficult an occupation preaching is."(1) Then Luther continued by a discussion of the intensity of the attacks from Satan on those who would presume to "preach the word of God."(2) In this short essay, I will discuss how four important themes concur with Luther's statement. The first of these themes is the importance of our definition of the gospel to our preaching ministry. The second theme is the importance of the Holy Spirit to the task of preaching. The third theme is our definition of preaching. The fourth theme is metaphors for understanding the preacher. I believe that these four fundamental concepts from all point to the validity of Martin Luther's full statement, specifically the difficulty of preaching.

My working definition of the Gospel is; God is actively involved in the elevation of the world to a state beyond original creation.(3) This means that God is not idly standing by while Satan runs rampant. God is in the world taking on the forces that are in the world. This understanding of the Gospel means that God and Satan are in a Cosmic Battle and the destiny of the world is at stake. Neither God nor Satan will give up the world to the other without a struggle. Thus, we can expect that both God and Satan will use all the resources, consistent with their characters, to win this war. If we preach the Gospel, Satan will do the best that Satan can do to undermine the Gospel. Thus my understanding of the gospel includes in it a belief that Satan will use all the "furies of hell"(4) to stop that Gospel and thus the preaching of it.

In his statement, Luther speaks of a difficulty in the preaching of the gospel. Luther seems to mean that it is difficult because Satan will attack the preacher. While this is true and I have referred to it above, there is another way that it is difficult. Luther does not explicitly reference this difficulty in the statement. This difficulty is the problem of even conceiving of the Gospel in the world. Because of the world's way of doing things, we can lose sight of the Gospel. To understand the Gospel we must appeal to the importance of the Holy Spirit in all preaching. We cannot know how the Gospel looks today except the Spirit tells us. Jesus said that the Spirit of truth would be there to reveal the truth to us (John 16:13). If the Sprit is there to help us understand the gospel, Satan will be there to obscure it. If the Spirit tells us that we should fight for the oppressed, Satan is present telling us that that does not include the outsider. If the Spirit tells us to speak against domestic violence, Satan is present telling us that we do not know what the woman did to deserve the beating. Again Luther's statement is illuminated; preaching is difficult in that it is difficult to conceive of the gospel in this world.

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Jana, recent paintings : February 3-March 1, 2001

Jana

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