Liturgy is a matter of word and reply. The Lord speaks and listens; the congregation listens and speaks. We could call this the dialogical character of the liturgy.

In the context of this liturgy, preaching takes a prominent place. The question has arisen more than once (especially in these years) whether the preaching is not too much of a one-sided monologue. Should not the dialogue break up one-way traffic with the congregation (a preacher speaking to the congregation) as per the traditional sermon? In that case, wouldn’t the congregation come more into its own in this central part of the liturgy?
This article interacts with this question.

Near⤒🔗

The reader will, I suspect, recognize the word “near” from the title. It is taken from Paul’s letter to the church of Rome. The apostle deals with “the righteousness based on faith” (Romans 10:6). What does this righteousness say to the church? It is this: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)” (Romans 10:8). As you may know, Paul is quoting Moses who says in Deuteronomy 30:14 to Israel, the people of the covenant, “The word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”

Moses and Paul, the old and the new covenant proclaim to the church the miracle of the word that is near, the word that has come near in Christ.

Moses and Paul — in these two we hear both testaments in their oneness. This word concerning the proximity of the Word of faith has also become the motto of our Theological Seminary. In the stained-glass window of the university’s auditorium, this unity can also be found in a wealth of symbols. That is why I may assume that the expression of the Word being near sounds familiar to us.

But it is not only Moses and Paul who speak to the church like this. We hear, for instance, similar sounds with James and with John. James appeals to us to receive the word “which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). But how does he characterize that word? It is the “implanted word.” The word has gained a foothold in the congregation of the Christ; it has even become fused with that congregation. And John addresses the congregation as the community that has “been anointed by the Holy One” (1 John 2:20). He wrote to them not because “the truth” is far removed from the congregation, but on the contrary, told them, “I am writing these things to you… because you do know the truth” (1 John 2:1, 21). John concludes his letter with “God has come and has given us (that is, the church) understanding, so that we may know him who is true” (1 John 5:20). And with this the apostle has noted the element of life of the church: “And we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 5:20b).

The word is near; therefore, Paul can also call upon the congregation to make room for the Word in faith: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16).

We could go on like this. For the Scripture is like a gold mine regarding this point. With “this point” I mean that the preaching of the Word in the worship service does not come to a crowd, a random number of people, for whom the Word would still be foreign. The preaching in the church is in its address to the “church” already distinguished from the preaching to those who do not yet know the name of Christ: the Gentiles; or those who have not adopted that Name: the Jews; or those who have become alienated from the gospel. However much we still experience the horrible reality of sin in the church, it is still fully characterized by the Word, which according to God’s good pleasure has established a dwelling among us. That is how the preaching is looking for the church: not with a distant and foreign word, but in the wonderful power of the Word that is near.

The Authority of the Preaching←⤒🔗

What we have said so far does not in the least diminish the fact that the Word of grace comes to the church. It comes with authority. We do not need to examine the meaning of all the words that the Scripture uses for preaching the Word: preaching, proclamation, teaching, comforting, admonishing, and others. It is more than clear that God’s people are placed under the high authority of the Word. The church can never think: After all, the Word is planted in us and so we no longer have any message in that sermon: We know it and we have it. That would be a horrible misunderstanding, yes, even worse, a profound sin: contempt of authority, the authority with which grace continues to come to us — the authority that manifests itself in the call to faith, in the admonition to repentance.

That is why the preachers, to whom “the word of reconciliation” has been entrusted (2 Corinthians 5:19), are in some sense standing opposite the congregation — not in a clerical and hierarchical relationship, not in a high position that is in one way or another inherent to the actual office-bearer (since the priestly ordination as a sacrament with Rome was rightly and radically repudiated by the Reformation). The preachers are no more than “servants” of Christ (1 Corinthians 4:1) — servants of a new covenant (2 Corinthians 3:6) and even servants of the congregation “for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5).

No clerical grandstanding! But the Word that is being served to the congregation has a high position.

This is how the servants come with authority. That is how they speak to the church. They are not speaking the word of the church. They are not the voice of the church in their preaching. They do not speak based on the religiosity of the congregation. They are the mouthpieces of God: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

That is why, in the New Testament letters, we encounter that pronoun “we” quite often, spoken of the office-bearers, of the servants of the Word, who come to the congregation. It can also easily condense into the very personal “I” or “me”: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1). The church is called: the Word is near. But that church is also placed (passive tense) under the high authority of the gospel. That is also the claim! Then the “I,” who is in the service of the great Master, stands as an office-bearer opposite to this congregation: “I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you” (1 Corinthians 15:1; cf. Galatians 1:11). For the sake of this official and authoritative speaking, Paul can, as it were, put everything at stake — for example, against the stubbornness of the Corinthian congregation and in the struggle for the salvation of the Galatians: “My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!” (Galatians 4:19).

But even when the “I” is expanded or possibly softened into a plural “we,” the authority of Christ’s preaching can also be expressed therein. That does not have to be a “we,” whereby the preacher and the congregation become one unity, so that there would be no room for the Word to come to the congregation. The word “we” can be a figure of speech. But it can also mean a real plural of “servants of the Word” as well as the earwitnesses and eyewitnesses of salvation: “Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed” (1 Corinthians 15:11) and: “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you” (1 John 1:3).

All this can be summarized in the proposition that within the whole of the worship service, in which the Word of God demands and receives the response from the congregation, the preaching has the character of a monologue. Prof. Dr. Trimp, in his recent book Word, Water, and Wine, has emphasized and demonstrated that the essence of God’s work of salvation is at stake in this characteristic of preaching. This is to be maintained at a time when the preaching as “ministry of the Spirit” has been discredited. Here, too, the rich heritage of the Reformation is at stake. Trimp points to the conflict between Luther and the “biblical humanist” Erasmus. According to the latter, the Bible would be an educational book “for those who have the maturity and capacity for biblical ethical habits.” That explains why for Erasmus the preaching can be dispensed with, “because,” as Trimp summarizes Erasmus’ perspective, “man is capable of himself to reach the level of ethical justice.” And then Trimp adds: “Luther directed his sharp polemics against this human pride. It is precisely in his defence against Erasmus’ writing on free will that Luther emphasizes the need for public preaching. That was not a simple difference of opinion about method, nature or circle of communication. It was a conflict about the essence of God’s work of redemption. When we heed this warning, we need not be ashamed of the monologue of the public message in the twentieth century, which proclaims acquittal to sinners.”

However, this monologue does indeed take place in the church, where the Word belongs, and that gives it a certain distinction in how it is addressed to the church. The fact that the Word is near to the church means that the preacher is speaking to family members, members of the household of God, among whom he, as the preacher, also has his own place.

The “We” of the Church Also Has a Place within the Preaching←⤒🔗

There is as yet another way in which the Scriptures use the word “we.” I deliberately limit myself to the letters in the New Testament, because in it we clearly see the servants of the new covenant coming to the church as Christ’s ambassadors. They distinguish themselves with the self-designation “I” and “we” versus the “you” of the church.

There is not only a distinction and an official “contrast”; there is also identification with the congregation. The minister of the gospel stands together with the church under the same authority of the Word that he proclaims. We can illustrate this from the use of “we,” where preacher and congregation are seen together. An example: how does Paul, as an ambassador and servant of Christ¸ come to the church in Galatia with the burden of proclamation? There is great emphasis on the “I”: “I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you” (Galatians 5:2). Yet immediately before this we hear the inclusive “we/us”: “We have freedom now, because Christ made us free” (Galatians 5:1, ERV). It can also be heard in concrete admonition: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5:25, 26). This unity between preacher and congregation also resounds beautifully in the song that Paul sings about the hope of the church: “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:25-39).

It is no different with the apostle Peter. In his office he confronts the church with the word of instruction and admonition in his first letter (1 Peter 2:11; 1 Peter 4:7; 1 Peter 5:10) But the start is a mutual doxology of praise: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). Compare also the extensive praise with which Paul’s letter to the Ephesians commences (see Ephesians 1:1-14). This inclusive “we,” in which the preaching and the congregation are seen as a unity, can also be condensed into a singular: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24; and again, throughout this passage). How close is the unity between preacher and congregation when here too the “I” can be heard: in confession of guilt and in humiliation, as well as in the faithful confession of the life that we have in Christ (see Galatians 2:20).

The Holy Spirit Unites Us←⤒🔗

Why is it that the preacher, who comes to the congregation with the Word of acquittal and sanctification, can at the same time know himself to be one with the congregation?

That is the secret of the Spirit of Christ!

It is the Spirit through whom the apostles are motivated to proclaim the Word of the Christ (Acts 2). But this Spirit then comes to the church to dwell there: the temple of God in the Spirit ( Ephesians 2:22). The preachers are servants of God “in the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 6:6). But that is the Spirit that is given to us,which means, to the church (see Romans 5:5; Galatians 3:2, and other passages).

It is not a simple gesture of courtesy when the preacher knows and makes himself as one with the church to whom he comes as an “angel” (Rev. 2 and 3). It is the riches of the new covenant: The preacher speaks to the bride of Christ, and it is the Spirit who prompts the bride to say to her Lord: “Come!” (Revelation 22:17). It is the Spirit who makes the ministers competent for the preaching of the new covenant (2 Corinthians 3).

That is why it is so important that the preaching, which is indeed a monologue, nevertheless functions in communion and clearly bears the stamp of it.

Preaching in Community←⤒🔗

How should the preaching be done? This is a question that always loosens the tongues! A question about which a series of articles could be written — certainly by a more competent person than the undersigned! I will limit myself to a few “applicable” comments.

How should the preaching be done? The question can be answered in a thousand-and-one ways. For example, based on the character of the sermon we could really discuss the question of whether a sermon should be written out in full and as such should serve on the pulpit. However, I do not want to go in that direction. Regardless of whether it is written out, the sermon should be characterized by the two major realities that we paid attention to earlier.

The sermon comes to us with the authority of God’s Word. We preachers, as followers of Paul — albeit in fear and trembling — must dare to say that the word as it is proclaimed must be adopted “not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

But at the same time, the preacher must know himself to be one with the church, in which the Word dwells by the power of the Spirit. The preaching is in community. Therefore, by nature, preaching can never be a dictate from above, a decree, which must be read out publicly, but one that would not affect the preacher himself. The preaching, by its very nature, cannot be a speech, a learned exegetical, dogmatic or religious-cultural treatise, regardless of how much study was expended for it. The preacher can never abstract himself from the Word that he has to administer,  but also, neither from the congregation that he serves. The dominant pronoun in his address will, in my opinion, always be the “you,” because primarily it is being sent to the congregation. There is no richer address that we can think of than the simple: “congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” For then there is the glory of the people of God over all. But behind the “you” stands the “we.” We stand in front of the congregation. We are also included in it. We share in the same faith, in the same Spirit. We may be the mouthpiece of the congregation in the service of the prayers and the mouthpiece of God in the preaching. Here the right distinction has a deep meaning. Distinction does not mean separation. When we also keep the congregation before us in the preparation of the preaching, then the work of the Spirit of Christ will also appear to us as all its reality (and that in relation to the reality of all sin), that in the Word we make room for the answer of faith, because we continue to respect the unity of the body of Christ. We detect the voice of the joy of faith as well as the sighing of the challenges as they live in the hearts of the children of God. Do we not belong to them, and does the Word not take its course in their lives?

That is why the preacher can stand so close to the congregation: not because he would be interpreting its religion, but because the Word he preaches was planted in the church. For we are preaching a Word that exceeds all and that penetrates into all who believe. We are proclaiming the Word in the midst of the miracle that we speak to those who have been born again by that Word: as those who “have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for ‘all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.’ And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” (1 Peter 1:23-25)

Also, in this word we see — and does not it shine brilliantly like a jewel? — how the high Word is near to us, near to everyone who is low and humble, fragile as the grass.