Readings for today: John 7-9
On Thursday, I will board a plane for Eastern Africa to train church planters. The subject I am teaching on at the conference is preaching. We will cover subjects like prayer, Bible study, hermeneutics, exegesis, interpretation, cultural distance, and communication style. Each of these play a significant role in how a pastor preaches God’s Word. I like to teach in small groups. Some of it is because of the heat. Some of it is because I’ve learned it’s a better approach than lecturing. I will gather them. Give them a text. Walk them through it. Help them craft a sermon. Give them a chance to deliver it in front of their peers. I can’t wait. Another thing I like to do is offer a time for questions and answers at the end of each session. I already know what one of the questions will be. It comes up every time. Should pastors promote their own authority or trust God for His authority? It sounds like such a simple question. Of course the answer is rely on God’s authority over our own. But how does that map itself out? Especially in a social media driven world where so many pastors pursue celebrity all in the name of Jesus?
I wish I had a good answer for them. I don’t. I look around our culture in America today and I see pastors and preachers engaging in all kinds of self-promotion. Some do it intentionally. Most do it by default. They’ve bought into the lie that somehow they must promote themselves in order to reach people with the gospel. It’s why their social media feeds are full of selfies. It’s why their church highlight reels are dominated by their preaching. It’s why they project themselves on as many screens as possible in as many locations as possible on a Sunday morning. It makes me think of the words of Jesus from John 7. “If anyone wants to do God’s will, he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. The person who speaks on his own authority desires to receive honor for himself, the one who desires the honor of the one who sent him is a man of integrity, and there is no unrighteousness in him.” (John 7:17-18 NET) Clearly, Jesus was a popular teacher in His day. He drew large crowds wherever He went. His name was associated with all kinds of miracles and signs and wonders. But Jesus never confused his popularity with His authority. He knew His authority came from His Heavenly Father and He spent His entire career seeking to point people beyond Himself to His Father’s coming Kingdom. He sought to bring glory to His Father and kept none for Himself. In fact, He emptied Himself of His heavenly glory in order to become a servant and humble Himself to death on a cross. I wish my colleagues in ministry would do the same.
Does this mean we should never post on social media? Never share our highlight reels from Sunday morning? Never preach in multiple venues? I think it’s worth reflecting on. Why do we share what we share? If someone were to simply look at our social media feeds, who gets most of the attention? Who gets most of the credit? Who gets most of the glory? Why is it so important to plaster our faces everywhere? Why is it so important that people hear our voice and no one else’s? Why is it so important for us to hog the platform? Furthermore, we have to consider the influence we have on emerging churches around the world. Young pastors and young believers who take their cue from what they see online. After all, I know we all agree that we want to preach and teach with God’s authority. We all want to lead with integrity and righteousness. We all want God to get all the glory and honor from our ministries. So how are we seeking to live this out? Are we willing to move into the background to let this happen and lift the name of Jesus high above our own?
Readings for tomorrow: Luke 10, John 10, 11:1-54