Preaching is Easy

This morning on his Twitter account, Troy Polamalu shared this great quote from the Greek Orthodox monk, Elder Joseph the Hesychast: “Preaching is so easy, it is like throwing rocks down from the top of a tall bell tower.  Practicing what you preach, on the other hand, is so difficult it is like hauling all those rocks back to the top of the bell tower.”

Boy, does this resonate with me!

Preaching is a labor of love for me – it’s probably my favorite part of being a pastor.  I love seeing the Word of God come alive to my heart and mind through the work of the Holy Spirit; wrestling with it to understand its meaning; further struggling to know how to apply it to life; and finally seeing the Holy Spirit work in the hearts and minds of the people that hear the Word of God.  In many respects for me, preaching is easy.

It’s also one of the most dreaded parts of being a pastor.  There are times when the well seems dry for me, despite the fact that I could never exhaust the riches of God’s Word.  There are times when I struggle spiritually in my own life to feast on God’s Word for my own personal edification and growth.  And there are times when I literally fear what I’m going to preach, because I know that practicing what I preach will require some significant work in my own heart and mind. 

In 2 Corinthians 4, one of the readings from For theLove of God today, the Apostle Paul wrote these words to his friends in the Church at Corinth: “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (v.v. 5&6)

Let’s tweak the word preaching to promoting for practical purposes here.  Many of you don’t preach in the traditional sense, but all of us promote something.  Promoting ourselves – our agenda and our priorities – is easy.  We live in a world that values and favors self promotion over self sacrifice.  There are lots of things many of us are qualified to preach about: how to lose weight and be physically healthy; how to have lots of fun; how to make lots of money; how to have nice things and climb the corporate ladder; how to do this and how to do that and how to be a better this or a better that. 

Promoting Christ as Lord and ourselves as his servants is hard.  But for a believer, the promotion and proclamation of Jesus should be evident in all that we do.  God has given us new life in Jesus so that his light would shine in our hearts, and shine in our lives so that the world may see his power and grace and that He would be glorified.

What are you preaching with your life?  What are you promoting in your life?  Is your focus on bringing glory to God through the greatness of Jesus or is your life focused on bringing glory to you?

 Later in v.v. 10&11, Paul wrote, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body.  For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.”

The life of a disciple should be marked by death to sin and self-promotion while at the same time displaying the reality of the new life that Jesus brings in us.  Simply put, if we’re not being transformed and changed by the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, we’re not being faithful to the one who has called us to this life. 

It’s hard work, but it’s incredibly valuable work.  Like Elder Joseph said, sometimes it’s like hauling rocks.  The bigger context of 2 Corinthians 4 shows us this.  Paul spends considerable time talking about the reality of harsh persecution of Christians in the first century.  In v.v. 16-18, he declares this great promise from God: “Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Preaching is easy and anybody can preach a great sermon, but are we living out what transformation for God’s glory looks like?  Remember that our struggles against sin and self promotion are temporary and that victory in those areas prepares us for eternity.  Look up!  Keep your eyes focused on Jesus.  Keep your life focused on preaching and promoting the riches of his life, death and resurrection.