3. I get the point that we shouldn’t get so locked up in our offices and behind our computer screens that we fail to engage with people, but I do not concede the dichotomy between preaching and disciple making.
A key part of being a disciple is to submit to teaching, so when the preacher stands to deliver God’s Word, he is offering a path to discipleship, for those who will give themselves to it.
In my own experience, how have I been brought into closer discipleship of Christ? There are many significant contributory factors, but a key one has certainly been sitting under the authority of the preached Word.
4. And then there’s the memorability factor, which often gets thrown about, but I’m not sure it’s much of an argument.
Does it matter if no one remembers the sermon in three weeks time?
Preaching is not merely the communication of a list of points that should be committed to memory but a spiritual activity that changes the heart.
I think it was Jonathan Edwards (though I might not remember correctly!) who spoke about preaching being like water flowing onto rock. No individual drop makes any impression, but over the course of time, the rock must yield to, and be shaped by, the water.
Consistent preaching shapes our thinking and souls in similar fashion, and that is part of being discipled.
I would contend that preachers should be preparing sermons and making disciples. These two are friends, not enemies!
So my preferred tweet would be something like, “Be a disciple who spends time preparing disciple-making sermons and making disciples that shape your sermons.”
