Some wisdom from the late John Stott (27 April 1921 – 27 July 2011) on responding to the anti-authoritarian mood against preaching:
The prophets of doom in today’s Church are confidently predicting that the day of preaching is over. It is a dying art, they say, an outmoded form of communication, ‘an echo from an abandoned past’. Not only have modern media superseded it, but it is incompatible with the modern mood.
What is the anti-authoritarian mood against preaching?
Seldom if ever in its long history has the world witnessed such a self-conscious revolt against authority. Not that the phenomenon of protest and rebellion is new.
What seems new today, however, is both the world-wide scale of the revolt and the philosophical arguments with which it is sometimes buttressed…All the accepted authorities (family, school, university, State, Church, Bible, Pope, God) are being challenged.
Stott gives 5 responses to the anti-authority mood against preaching:
1. Remember that human beings were created to be both morally responsible and free
We cannot therefore acquiesce either in license (which denies responsibility) or in slavery (which denies freedom). Christians know from both Scripture and experience that human fulfillment is impossible outside some context of authority.
2. Remember the doctrine of revelation
It is a basic tenet of the Christian religion that we believe what we believe not because human beings have invented it but because God has revealed it. In consequence, there is an authority inherent in Christianity which can never be destroyed. Preachers who share this assurance see themselves as trustees of divine revelation.
3. Remember the locus of authority
Suppose in our preaching we are careful to demonstrate that the authority with which we preach inheres neither in us as individuals, nor primarily in our office as clergy or preachers, nor even in the church whose members and accredited pastors we may be, but supremely in the Word of God which we expound? Then the people should be willing to hear, particularly if we put the matter beyond doubt by showing that we desire to live under this authority ourselves.
4. Remember the relevance of the gospel
When the preached message rings true, and is seen to relate to human reality, it carries its own authority, and authenticates itself.
5. Remember the dialogical character of preaching
A true sermon is not the monologue which it appears to be… [Dialogical preaching] refers to the silent dialogue which should be developing between the preacher and his hearers.
Painful as it is, it is of the essence of dialogical preaching and lessens the offense which authoritative preaching would otherwise give.
What do you think? Does the sermon still have a place in the overall discipling and maturing of believers in the church today? What else do we need to remember when considering the anti-authoritarian mood against preaching?
All quotes taken from Chapter Two of Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today by John Stott
