H. Leo Boles
The kind of preaching that we need today is just the kind that Jesus and the apostles gave to the world. The churches of Christ were established and guided in their work and worship in the first century by the preaching that we have recorded in the New Testament scriptures. Churches were established by this kind of preaching in cities, villages, and countries. They were developed and fulfilled in their mission under the guidance of the instruction given us in the New Testament. They were successful then under such preaching, and can be today under such preaching. In fact, no church can fulfill its mission on earth and glorify God, except it follow the instruction given the early churches. Just what is needed for churches today may be found in what was needed for the churches then. The Holy Spirit guided the apostles and evangelists in giving to the churches then what was needed.
The public preaching today and the public teaching today must be plain, positive, direct, and scriptural. All public preaching and teaching of the gospel should be done in humility and reverence for God’s truth, and should be given in kindness and in earnestness. No hypocrite can preach the truth of God with the power and persuasion that should ever accompany the preaching of the Gospel. Mere generalities and negative preaching will not meet the requirements of this age or any other age. The history of all successful Gospel preachers bears witness that they were in earnest and clothed in humility in proclaiming the gospel to the lost and in edifying the saints of God. This age needs, and the churches of Christ should demand, that the simple truths and principles of the New Testament be preached. Neither the world nor the church needs rhetorical sentimentalities nor oratorical sermonettes. The preaching should be direct and should meet the needs of the hearers. There should be no rehash of slavish repetition of the sermons of some famous evangelist or preacher of worldly renown. The preacher should be “hidden behind the cross,” and his sermons should come from his heart and life, as he has drawn from the New Testament teaching. The churches do not need sanctified dullness, nor very learned dissertations, nor scientific smatterings, nor elocutionary artifices. No church can thrive spiritually upon such food, and truly no sinner can be converted to Christ by such preaching.
Not only should the preaching be simple and direct and positive, but it should instruct, reprove, rebuke, and exhort. The preacher should “preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). The preacher should adjust his own life with the truth of God, and then his reproofs and exhortations will have greater force. No one need think that he can preach the Gospel as it was done in the first century without rebuking sin. The preacher who is afraid to rebuke sin in the spirit of Christ is unworthy to be called a “preacher of the Gospel.” The preacher who is too cowardly to rebuke sin as God’s Book does is unworthy to be classed as a preacher of the gospel. The public preacher and teacher of the Gospel must rebuke sin. This should be done in love and gentleness, but it should be done in firmness and positiveness. Much preaching today is in such generalities and is so pointless and timid that it has lost its power. Nothing will stir the churches and shake the world but positive preaching. When preaching is not antagonistic to sin and is popular with the world, we may know that it will accomplish but little good. There should be no timid apology offered for rebuking sin in the world or in the church. The power and majesty and holiness of the truth of God demand that it be preached in such a way as to rebuke elders, preachers, the wealthy, the poor, and every class that may be guilty of sin.
There is need at the present time for preaching that will correct all the evils in the church and point sinners “to the lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” The preaching needed today should encourage the cultivation of personal holiness and consecration of God. It should encourage all church members to be earnest, prayerful students of the Bible and willing to sacrifice and serve in the name of Christ as opportunity is offered them. The preaching needed today should teach God’s people to present their bodies a living sacrifice unto God and to keep themselves unspotted from the world. If such preaching is done, there will be a revival in church activities and a larger increase in additions to the church.
