Preacher as Tour guide
A sermon as a guided expedition of the kingdom of God
To consider preaching is not simply a task for preachers. We all are called to draw near to our Lord to hear his Word declared. Both hearer and preacher can diminish the reality of gospel proclamation. But what does it look like to proclaim the Word?
Sometimes we are so familiar with hearing sermons - and perhaps giving them - that we fail to step back and ask: “What am I even doing here?”
When I received my first sabbatical from teaching, my church was kind enough to let me step away from the pulpit as well. During this time I thought a lot about preaching. I finally had the space to think about what I am doing when I preach. I realized that I had never really specified what I think I am doing for the people who hear me regularly.
What I realized I was doing when preaching was giving a guided tour of the kingdom of God. My “style,” if I can call it that, is “preacher as tour guide.” Here is the first sermon I gave when I came back from my sabbatical explaining what I mean by this. Take a listen here:
The reason I preach this way is because I think Scripture illumines reality through the Spirit, and so it is my task to lead people to their Lord in light of the world in which they live. I’m not simply trying to explain a difficult text or idea; I am trying to lead them into the world Jesus proclaimed is true. I am taking them on tour of the world as Jesus claimed it to be.
Scripture as Lenses
There is a great, but highly neglected spiritual classic written by John Comenius (1592-1670), called, The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart (which is somewhat similar to Pilgrim’s Progress). Comenius’ allegory is a story about Pilgrim, and is something of an attempt to articulate the vanity of Ecclesiastes in narrative form.
The reader finds Pilgrim on a journey through the world to try to find the meaning of life and a vocation, and is met by two individuals - Ubiquitous and Delusion - who force a bridle and spectacles on him to force him to see in a worldly manner (this is the result of Original Sin).
“I looked at the bridle and found that it was stitched together out of straps of curiosity and that its bit was made of tenacity in resolutions. Then I understood that in beholding the world I would no longer travel freely as before, but would be driven on forcibly by the fickleness and insatiable thirst of my own mind.” - Pilgrim
Much later, after seeing the world through the spectacles of the flesh, Pilgrim finds Christ. Confronted by Jesus, Pilgrim receives a new gift:
“‘in place of the spectacles and bridle that you previously received, I place on you my yoke (which is obedience to me) so that henceforth you will follow no one but me. I also give you these glasses. Through them you will be able to discern still more clearly the vanities of the world, if you should want to look at them, and the comforts of my chosen ones.’ (The exterior frame of these glasses was the Word of God, and the glass within was the Holy Spirit.)”
Like Calvin, Comenius sees Scripture as similar to glasses. To be faithful to Scripture is not only to look at it, but to see through it. One must come to see the world and oneself truly. in light of who God is and how God has revealed himself. In a similar way as Comenius, Calvin sees the Word and the Spirit in a inseparable bond, such that, as Calvin says explicitly, “without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the Word can do nothing” (Institutes, 3.2.33).
The Protestant tradition has sought to hold Word and Spirit together. In practice, we are often tempted to trade one for the other.
Consider with the Lord: Do I learn Scripture simply to know things about the Bible, or to know who God is, who I am, and what the world is really like? Does my reading and hearing of Scripture help me to walk in this world by faith, or do I seek knowledge to try not to? Am I hoping that by being saved by faith, I won’t have to live by it?