Prophetic preaching – the missing jewel of the evangelical church?

In these two extracts from his new book 'Prophetic Preaching – the Missing Jewel of the Evangelical Church?' retired bishop and minister Wallace Benn calls evangelicals back to an understanding of preaching as being more than simply teaching.

Paul writes to the Corinthians: ‘Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy’ (1 Cor. 14:1). It is surely this kind of expository gospel preaching with application, which is Spirit-enabled and prompted, that the church most needs today. Peter models it for us in his sermon in Acts 2. This is what brings ‘upbuilding and encouragement and consolation’ (1 Cor. 14:3). It is this kind of preaching that, as on the day of Pentecost, brings conviction of God’s presence to an unbeliever and reveals the secrets of his heart (in other words, that he is a sinner and needs a Saviour – 1 Cor. 14:24–25).

It is the gospel that does that as ‘the power of God unto salvation’, not some ‘clairvoyant’ type of revelation about some secondary detail in a person’s life. Calvin warns that it is unthinkable to contemplate the church without this kind of prophetic gift, whereas the ‘promptings’ as Grudem describes them, though valuable in their place, would surely not have been given the elevated status that Paul gives to prophecy here!

As I am not a strict cessationist, I have no problem with accepting that one aspect of prophecy may be the Holy Spirit’s helpful prompting of a person or church in a particular direction at a needy moment which, as it is localised, does not need to be enscripturated or elevated to Scriptural status. But surely now that the Son has revealed the Father’s will for the salvation of a world-wide people redeemed by His grace for His glory, there is no need for further revelations other than given to us by Holy Scripture. It is not only authoritative but ‘sufficient’ for all the essential needs of God’s people.

Application

There is an interesting overlap between preaching and teaching in the ministry of the Lord Jesus (see for example, Luke 4:14-15, 44). What makes preaching distinct from teaching is not the content, but rather that it is teaching with exhortation to take seriously and put into practice. The preacher comes from the presence of God, having taken His word seriously himself, and preaches the same with an urgency and an authority that comes from God Himself. This is the kind of arresting preaching that we see in Peter’s sermon in Acts 2. It comes across with relevance and application to those who are listening. The power in the preaching comes from the content – it is a message from God – and also the fact that it has touched the preacher’s heart, as well as being Spirit-anointed and enabled in its delivery.

It comes across not simply as information, but a message from the living God who calls for a response to what He says. It is preaching which not only informs, but requires a verdict. It is truth, which speaks into a situation, with application that people can see.

So, I believe, application is very important in preaching. Not a forced application, nor an application thin on Biblical support, but rather an application which comes from understanding what the word of God meant to those it was first spoken to, and then seeing its parallel impact on our lives and situation. The crowd on the Day of Pentecost were left in no doubt about the relevance to them of what Peter was saying and preaching! His preaching required a verdict and he got it! (Acts 2:37-39).

There is an interesting comment by Sinclair Ferguson about what John Owen thought: ‘It is of interest that Owen does not equate prophecy with preaching, simpliciter. Both may legitimately be regarded as forms of ministry of the word, and consequently must be intimately related in form and content; nevertheless, there is a sense of immediacy about the idea of prophecy which is not necessarily present in the idea of preaching.’

It is my deeply held conviction that what is desperately needed in the church today is this kind of prophetic preaching. That is, preaching that is expositional, that teaches Holy Scripture, but does more than that, it ‘preaches its teaching’ as Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to say. That preaching must be done by a preacher who has met with God as he has laboured prayerfully over his exposition of Scripture. He has allowed Scripture to encourage and challenge him, and so he comes out of the study with a message from God, that he earnestly prays will be blessed by God as he preaches it. He is entirely dependent on God for that blessing and longs that the message of the Bible (‘God preaching’ – J.I. Packer’s famous definition of the Bible) will fulfil what God intends and change lives.

That sort of studious, sincere and, above all, Spirit-dependent preaching is what I mean by ‘prophetic preaching’ and it does change lives! There is a power about it. That is a ‘prophecy’ which perfectly fulfils Paul’s description that ‘the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation … the one who prophesies builds up the church’ (1 Cor. 14:3–4). People leave church having met with God, not just having been intellectually informed (important as that is in its place).

Essentially (though not exclusively), prophecy today is the word of God preached with urgency and immediacy. It has a ‘Thus says the Lord’ about it, and its effect can often be seen in someone coming out of church who says ‘God spoke to me tonight’; or ‘Tonight’s message described me to a tee, who told you what I was feeling, vicar?!’ A rather better comment than ‘Nice sermon, vicar!’

This opening of Scripture in the power of the Spirit that testifies to Christ and seeks to draw people to Him is surely at the heart of all ‘forth-telling’ of God’s word. Though it does not cover all that prophecy means in the New Testament, it is surely central to its meaning. I have no trouble with allowing a ‘prophecy’ on an important occasion imparting to a local church some wisdom about a situation, or future event, or even about individual concerns (as we see in Acts 11:27ff; 20:23; 21:9-14), which are particular to that church and therefore not to be enscripturated. Indeed, every utterance must be tested by Holy Scripture.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. When I was vicar of St Peter’s, Harold Wood, a church that happily emphasised expository preaching, we had a special weekend on giving. On the Sunday, a much-loved and respected lay preacher came to me during the singing of a hymn. He said: ‘I have a picture of us and our giving that I can’t get out of my mind. Our giving is like an iceberg, only a small part of it is showing, and we need to give a lot more!’ I called my fellow elders and shared what he said with them and we agreed that it was a perfect picture of where the church was at, and we asked him to share it with the congregation after we had finished the hymns we were singing. This resonated with the congregation, as it was a helpful visual aid of the Scriptures we had been teaching, and was a real blessing. We did not talk up this experience, nor did we expect it to happen regularly, but in a healthy congregation, things like this can and do happen from time to time.

However, let us importantly remember that it is the preaching of the apostolic gospel, it is the testimony to God’s saving grace, and our need of Christ, that is the thing that discloses to an unbeliever ‘the secrets of his heart’, and ‘so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you’ (1 Cor. 14:24–25). ‘The preaching of the word of God ( if it is faithful ), is the word of God’ (2nd Helvetic Confession, emphasis added) and it saves, blesses and builds up the church. Healthy churches see this happening every week!

The one who preaches is to remember that he is called to preach the very oracles of God (1 Peter 4:11). It is a huge responsibility which requires the best from those who prophesy and preach in the sense that I have outlined. God’s people need to pray as much for their preachers as preachers do for their people. May God restore this kind of prophetic preaching to our churches and may we be content with nothing less than Biblical, applied pastoral preaching that makes us listen to what God is saying to us. It is not about eloquence, but faithfulness, integrity and the power of the Holy Spirit at work.

Let Calvin have the last word in this section. While complaining about bad preaching but encouraging people to be patient with preachers who are faithful and trying hard but sometimes ‘miss the mark’, he warns: ‘Since the abolition of prophecy means the destruction of the church, let us allow heaven and earth to fall into disorder rather than that prophecy should cease’. These are serious words, so let us pray and work for a wider restoration of proper Biblical proclamation in the power of the Spirit to the glory of God and the blessing of His people, and let us practice what we preach and advocate!

Prophetic Preaching:
the Missing Jewel of the Evangelical Church?
By Wallace Benn
(Latimer Trust 2023, available via www.latimertrust.org)