One major objective of this discussion of the congregation's role in preaching is to clarify expectations about the sermon, so that pew meets pulpit each Sunday. As stated last time, surely the pulpit's high view of preaching should be matched with the pew's high view of listening.

So this time we'd like to begin unfolding — by means of a rather formal definition — what the congregation and her preacher should expect a sermon to be and to do.

Here is preliminary definition of preaching.

"Preaching is the official, covenantal administration of the Word of God revealed in Scripture, in the context of the public worship of God's people, for edifying the church and discipling the nations."

If you didn't get that memorized after the first reading, don't feel bad. We'll be working out this definition for a while. But here is the nub, the heart of the sentence: Preaching administers God's Word. As you review once more that longer definition of preaching, consider the following emphases selected from our definition.

Preaching Should be Official⤒🔗

The first quality of preaching is that the man and his pulpit activity must be author­ized and commissioned. Don't trust anybody who comes on his — or her — own authority!

The need for God's spokesman to be commissioned is as old as Paradise, really. When Satan asked, "Has God said . . . ?" Adam should have tossed him out of the Garden for speaking on his own authority. But the quali­ty of divine authorization belonged especially to the Old Testament office of prophet. Measured by God's revelation through other prophets and by the Word's own fulfillment, the prophet's word was supposed to be analyzed, evaluated, and either received or rejected on those terms.

Many New Testament passages set forth this commission to preach. Consider Matthew 28:18-20, where the risen Christ declares, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples...baptizing...teaching...." Unlike OT prophecy with its repeatedly new revelation, both the content of NT preaching and its authorization come from our Chief Prophet Himself! By the way, please notice that the commission to baptize is given to the very same ones who are sent to make disciples and to teach, namely, the eleven disciples! Christ has authorized and commis­sioned His church — and no other institution or association or individual — to administer faithfully His ordained means of grace, namely, gospel preaching and the holy sacra­ments.

Among the clearest declarations of this principle is Romans 10:14-15. Notice the links in "the preacher's chain": "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? . . . ."

To call upon the name of the Lord requires believing in the Lord, which demands hearing Him speak, which necessitates preachers who are sent.

So then, authorization outranks ability, even as commission is prior to competence.

Surely we can affirm someone's ability without acknowledging his or her authority. Let's be clear about this. We can admit that any "Tom, Dick, or Mary" can speak effectively in the pulpit, and at the same time deny that any "Tom, Dick, or Mary" may speak in your pulpit. Not ability, but authorization by God through the church is a pri­mary feature of the preaching you should be hearing. The Bible always subordinates abil­ity to authority, which simply means that just because a person can preach doesn't yet mean that person may preach.

Further, the Bible specifies what qualifies a person to preach, in terms of both personal ability and ecclesiastical authorization. God Himself has set the measure for who may preach His Word. The church must uphold and apply these standards in ministerial training and in ecclesiastical exams for entering the office of the ministry. Woe to anyone who intrudes unlawfully into church office — and woe to the church that permits such lawlessness! What the Belgic Confession declares of the minister personally applies to the church as well: "Therefore everyone must take heed not to intrude himself by improper means, but is bound to wait till it shall please God to call him; that he may have testimony of his calling, and be certain and assured that it is of the Lord" (Art. 31). A person not lawfully and biblical­ly authorized to be God's official spokesman merely pretends to preach and plays church. Likewise, when people unauthorized by God pretend to speak His Word, then pewsitters inevitably slide into a pretend religion.

Authority Without Ability? (1)←↰⤒🔗

Perhaps you agree, then, that the Bible always subordinates ability to authority, which simply means that just because a person can preach doesn't yet mean that person may preach.

But what about the reverse? What happens if a person may preach, but the consensus of many, including perhaps the preacher himself, is that he can't preach? What happens when authority is not matched by ability? What then?

If any Bible story illustrates this anomaly, it is the story of Moses. Commissioned by God Himself to tell Pharaoh to let Israel go, Moses sought an exemption because he couldn't speak very well (Exodus 4:10; cf. 6:12).

The NT church has correctly expected a minister to be "able to teach" (1 Tim. 3:2). Effective preaching requires abilities to think and to study, to organize and express thoughts, to speak clearly and understandably, and to edify. The requirement that an elder be able to "take care of the church of God" (1 Tim. 3:5) we apply to ministers as well. For this duty a man must be able to manage his time, prioritize his tasks, respect others, communicate efficiently, and follow through on assignments. Nowadays the church expects the preacher to be able to relate well to others, to lead by winsome example and to follow with a humble spirit, to empathize with God's people in their struggles and their victories. We expect all of this to "come through" on the pulpit.

Regarding biblical evidence, I know of no instance in Scripture, however, where someone was removed from office because of inability. The Bible contains several accounts of removal from office for disobedience, which then disqualified the officeholder from continuing.

Regarding the real problem in the church of authority without ability, of commission without competence, we must face this very difficult and sensitive matter forthrightly, with as much spiritual wisdom and patient charity as everybody can muster.

Authority Without Ability? (2)←↰⤒🔗

This problem of authority without ability stated colloquially but indelicately as the problem of the incompetent preacher — must be addressed at various points in the church's life.

Entrance into office is perhaps the most important point at which the church through her elders must deal honestly and objectively with men aspiring to become preachers. The courage to deny someone entrance to minis­terial office includes the possibility of disappointing a man by such a verdict. But tilting toward leniency in permitting men to become preachers, if that leniency arises from our aversion to hurting people's feelings, will cause much wider injury and deep­er damage in years to come.

Some men who want to become preachers should not become preachers. We must, accept this truth. For only on the basis of this truth can church examinations (licensure, candidacy, and ordination exams) be mean­ingful exercises whereby the church through her elders applies to a particular man the bib­lical criteria for entering office. If the mere desire to become a preacher is sufficient, finally, then let's dispense with multiple examinations of prospective preachers. But if more than desire is required, then let's be serious about applying biblical criteria when we permit men to enter the ministry. And those criteria include the demonstration of certain abilities.

Whether a man satisfies some of these criteria can be determined objectively. Is he married to but one wife? Is he a novice? Is he above reproach among outsiders? But whether he meets other criteria is determined more subjectively. Is this man able to teach? Is he temperate? Is he gentle? Does he rule his own house well?

What Can You Do?←⤒🔗

We need to say more about this matter of authority without ability in the church. But we close with several suggestions for guarding the entrance into the ministry.

If you are the parent of a son, pray and work. Pray about the possibility of your son becoming a preacher, while you work hard to ensure that, whether or not he enters the ministry, he learns to think and speak clearly, to read with comprehension, to write effectively. Give your son to the church, if God wills, as a man whose parents insisted he memorize his catechism, whose father reminded him to speak proper English, whose mother urged him to read good books. Cultivate sons with spiritual discernment. Raise boys with sensitive hearts for God. Nurture lads with a love for studying.

What parents do within the family, elders must do within the church. Pray publicly and work diligently that God may raise up a new generation of gospel preachers — from your congregation! Create opportunities for boys and young men to learn and to lead. Become personally and intimately involved in the formation of future preachers, by evaluating their abilities, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, with a view to entrusting them to seminary professors who want to work with you in a man's formation and develop­ment.

All of us must begin again to extol before our sons and grandsons the calling of gospel preaching! Preachers themselves must lead the way in expressing delightful amazement in God's wonderful gift to the church of office itself. All of us must stand amazed that God has not left us orphaned, but entrusted the care of our souls to the offices of minister, elder, and deacon. But let us also rejoice that God has filled these offices among us, in our congregations. He has sent — yes: God Himself has sent! — men qualified by the Spirit to administer to us God's unfath­omable grace.