Over the course of our Christian lives, we hear hundreds or even thousands of sermons. Perhaps through the sheer repetition, we are prone to forget what makes preaching so special, so unique. At the heart of preaching is the wonder—what Brian Edwards describes as the miracle—of “God communicating Himself to a fallen world through the words of a fallen man.”
Just consider it. Preachers of no particular eloquence plainly preach a straightforward message whose content seems simplistic and even offensive to many. Yet that simple preaching of that simple message brings life from death, for “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
In preaching, God means to upend both the methods and the messages of the world. In contrast to a message that inevitably makes man look great, God brings a message that makes man look small. In contrast to methods that rely on persuasive speaking or rhetorical gimmicks, God uses the simplest of men who speak the plainest of words. Each Sunday, he communicates to fallen men through fallen men to save his people and to sanctify them. What a miracle!
