Lately the steady trickle of tweets, articles, Blogs etc.., about how a sermon won't change your life but 'authentic community' blah blah, has begun to aggravate me. For sure I'm a preacher, it's my gifting and my calling and I'm a preacher's kid so I solidly come from world view that values the proclaimed word of God. So with that said I'm tired of the "biblical community pundits" who laud sitting in a circle dribbling on about " well I think.." and "once this happened to me" somehow is more powerful than the proclaimed word of God.
I could rattle of passage after passage about the prescriptive, propositional command to 'preach' and in fact can clearly support that preaching has a value that none of us can fathom or grasp, it is a mystery of the foolish that God uses to transform lives.
This is not to say that Biblical community isn't immensly valuable and life transforming, but it doesn't nor can it ever replace the kerygma, the gospel and the exhortative power of the proclaimed word. In fact they are designed to work in concert with one another. but with that said if Biblical community were to cease but the preaching of the Gospel to continue The word proclaimed would bear fruit that would create Biblical Community. If Proclamation ceases at some point so would Biblical Community.
I get that preaching has fallen on hard times from a cultural perspective but I will continue "to preach the word of God. Be prepared in season and out of season, patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage my people with good teaching'.
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