We’re all familiar with the idea that the God we serve can speak. After all, we who are made in His image have voices and use words. But what is it to hear the Lord? What do people mean when they say, “The Lord said to do such and such,” or “God spoke to me about this?”
And what do these biblical statements imply?
“My sheep hear My voice.” John 10:27
“The Spirit clearly says. . .” 1 Timothy 4:1
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Mark 4:9
“Everyone who listens to the Father. . . comes to me.” John 6:45
“This was revealed to you by my Father in heaven.” Matthew 16:17
How does this work? How can we be certain we are hearing God, and not just our own inner dialogue?
Jesus helps us with this when He says (John 6:63), “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” And this tracks with Paul’s reminder to Timothy that all Scripture is “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:15).
God’s Spirit always is tracking with God’s Word. Not only that, but both, not surprisingly, produce the same results. Being filled with God’s Spirit leads to praise and mutual encouragement, as does being filled with His Word (Cf. Ephesians 5:18-20 and Colossians 3:16, 17). And in both cases, the pronouns are plural. There is a mutual bond among believers who gather around the Word.
That is why Truth is the most important reality in preaching. The famous pastor Phillips Brooks, in his Yale Lectures on Preaching, defined preaching as “Truth mediated through personality.” Depending upon how we understand that statement, the personality of the preacher may very well overshadow the truth he is speaking, especially in a culture which is media-focused and celebrity-centered.
But “personality” does not mean today what it did when Brooks wrote those words in 1877! He was implying that a preacher, or any speaker, for that matter, can speak truth, regardless of whether he is genteel and well-spoken or barely literate. It is not that the speaker has a flair for words or the “gift of gab,” still less, is a “smooth talker.”
Paul himself fought this battle with some of the Corinthians who were critical of his “preaching style.” He points out that he had reduced his message to “Jesus Christ, crucified,” that is, the Gospel, as the issue of salvation, and not the principles of Greek rhetoric (1 Corinthians 2:4, 5): “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest upon men’s wisdom, but God’s power.”
So the impact is not in the loveliness of the speaker or his speech, but the beauty of truth which shines through him. The Gospel preacher will not want you to remember him, but Jesus, not his illustrations, but the realities to which they point, not his clothes, but his Christ.
All who come to church to hear a sermon may not be searching for truth. But if they find it (hear it), it was due to God’s Word and Spirit, and not the messenger. Jesus’ words are words of life, and spiritual ears will hear them.
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?”
Romans 10:13-15