THE SERMON IS NOT THE
WORD
I am going
to suggest something that may seem controversial at first; that is until it is
reasonably thought through. My suggestion is that the sermon is not the word.
The service of the word in corporate worship is a crucial component, which
includes far more than a mere sermon. The sermon certainly is part of the
service of the word, but it should usually not be the entirety of the service
of the word. I would dare say that the sermon is not the most important part of
the worship service as well but that all components should be harmonious in the
entire dialogue between God and his people. In fact, in many traditions, the word
does not take precedence, but the table does. While the sermon is derived from
the word and while, in fact, God speaks through the sermon to proclaim his
word, it is not the word.
My
tradition prides itself on being people of the word. I think what people
usually mean when they say that is that they place a high priority on the
Bible. This is good in and of itself. The word, however, involves more than
merely placing an apparent emphasis on the Bible. Often, to prove a zealous
appetite for the word, many churches extend the sermon to take up much of time
in corporate worship; I think this does nothing but deceive people into
believing that their mere head-knowledge of the Bible is equated with a high
priority on the word. To further think through the disconnect we find in our
churches regarding the word and to illustrate the fact that the sermon is not
the word, I would like to answer the question: what is the word?
The Word Is Jesus
First, the Word
is Jesus. John 1 begins with, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.” This passage is one of the most evident
references to the Trinity in all the Bible. The Apostle soon after this verse
mentions the fact that the Word dwelt among us and was rejected by his own
people. It then becomes obvious that the Word here is Jesus. When I first grasped
this concept at a young age, it baffled me that the Word is Jesus, yet, we also
refer to the Bible as the word. That is because the Bible itself centers around
Christ. The Bible is a redemptive narrative, which points to Christ as the
mediator. It is not that Jesus only knows the word or that he proclaims the
word; what Jesus does is proclaim himself because he, in fact, is the Word.
Preaching then centers around the person and work of Christ. When the Bible is
proclaimed, Jesus is proclaimed. We must be careful not to place the Bible
above Jesus. What I mean by that is that we must strive to preach Scripture as
a derivative of who Christ is, i.e. Jesus supersedes the Bible. The Bible
should be of utmost importance in our churches not because it is the authority
in and of itself but because it is the authority in who it declares. We declare
Christ in our preaching.
The Word Is the Bible
Paradoxically,
the word is also the Bible. I make this point after suggesting that Jesus is
the word to illustrate the fact that the Bible is centered around Christ. Jesus
is not subordinate to the text of Scripture, for he, in fact, is the one who
created Scripture. Nonetheless, the Bible is crucial in its message about the
Savior, Jesus Christ, which is precisely why many evangelical churches claim to
be people of the Bible. “People of the Bible” likely implies a high view of
Scripture; it is the authority for life and for godliness. If Jesus Christ is
God and the very Word himself, then the Bible’s trajectory is toward Jesus
Christ and the church must obey and proclaim its words. The Word is Jesus and
the word is the Bible so the preacher’s message must be derived from Scripture.
The sermon is not the word, but the sermon proclaims the word through the
Bible.
The Word Is a Fold of Worship
I have
already suggested the point that the word is a fold of corporate worship. Many
churches do not operate under the historic fourfold order, but traditionally,
there has been a fourfold order of gathering, word, table, and sending.[1]
My point in this commentary is to submit that the word is not merely the
sermon. The sermon (or homily), in fact, should be a portion of the service of
the word. The Bible is vital to corporate worship, which is why an entire fold
is dedicated to it. Nevertheless, we must not make the mistake of equating the
sermon with the word, for the sermon proclaims the word, both Jesus and the
Bible.
As the
people of God, a narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation has
been given to us through the text of Scripture. We should absolutely treat this
text with reverence, hide its words in our hearts, and obey it as a
transcendent narrative of God’s character in the person of Jesus Christ. What
we should not do, however, is treat the sermon as such. The sermon is crucial,
but it is not the word. Oddly though, God chooses to use the foolishness of
preaching when the preacher preaches the message of Scripture (1 Cor 1:21).
When we begin to treat the sermon as the word, we might easily fall into the
trap of following celebrity pastors or taking scriptures out of context by
failing to see the Bible as a narrative which centers around the person and
work of Christ. Let us then be hearers and doers of the word and, in the same
manner, followers of Christ, for he is the Word.
[1] Robert E. Webber, Planning Blended Worship: The Creative
Mixture of Old and New (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998), 21.
