3. It is always an opening by which God changes the world.
The proclamation, when received, makes way for people (Christians and non-Christians) to enter the Kingdom. The proclamation opens reality for someone to see differently and then “enter in” to that reality by faith into the world as it is under Jesus as Lord.
It is earth shaking. And so when the disciples go into the villages, sit, eat, live (in context of everyday life) and then proclaim, “The Kingdom is breaking in,” Jesus says, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16).
The effects are huge. For those who reject (who have truly understood), the effects are Sodom-and-Gomorrah-like (this is always God’s judgment not ours). And yet for those who receive the very forces of evil are destroyed (Luke 10:17). the Kingdom of God breaks in.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is miraculous.
Having said all of this, proclaiming Gospel is a humble exercise.
It is always done by a Christian as a bearer of good news. It is always practiced in humility. If we ever seek to take control of this wondrous practice, put the power of the Gospel in Christ into our own control, then all power and authority of the King is lost. We must always be present in context as “lambs” (Luke 10:3), vulnerable, gentle, hospitable, humble. These are the people God shall use to bring transformation to the world.
This is a practice we Christians are as much in need of as non-Christians. Yet too often, I contend, we have turned the sermon into info-tainment. We have lost the surper-natural character of the reality-creating event of the proclamation on Sunday. (A lot of this comes from people who are so used to being entertained and/or put into the consumer position that they cannot even enter into worship during the time of the sermon).
I contend that we need this simple humble practice in our day-to-day lives as Christians living in the neighborhoods.
But we have lost it? Somehow we lost its practice among us? We don’t know how to proclaim like this in humility? What say you? Does the way I talk about “proclamation” scare you? (Preaching should scare us, eh?) Are you worried about authoritarianism—this is why it must be done in humility and submission to the King (the first signs of ego disqualify the preacher, IMO).
I suggest such proclamation is just as essential to the calling out of injustices in the world as it is to lifting individuals out of hopelessness. I suggest such proclamation is key to discipleship in the church as well as evangelism/the breaking of social injustice outside it. You?
