Giving Up On Preaching

In a sidebar Q & A section in the current issue of Christianity Today (July 2009, page 17) Sarah Pulliam asks Robert A. Schuller, son of Robert H. Schuller, about his plans after leaving (or being "evicted" as he puts it)the The Hour of Power and the Crystal Cathedral.

Here is Pulliam's last question concerning Schuller Jr.’s new television program with GodTube founder Chris Wyatt:

Q: Why are you leaving preaching?
A: I’ll probably have 5-10 minute messages throughout the program, but it won’t be sitting down with three points and a poem. Chris Wyatt resigned a month before I left the Cathedral because his investor told him they wanted to take God out of GodTube. Chris discovered through GodTube that nobody listens to preaching. People are interested in other ways to communicate the message, such as interviews as opposed to talking heads.

So, here is what has me shaking my head; Schuller Jr. is giving up on preaching because people don’t listen anymore.

What?

Since when do we fulfill our faith in Christ based on what other people like or don’t like? Since when do we start taking the temperature of the culture and then start taking apart out faith? I am all for understanding and engage culture, but not at the expense of the faith.

I am reminded of what God said to Ezekiel about declaring his message:

Ezekiel 2:4-7 4“I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ 5“As for them, whether they listen or not—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6“And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. 7“But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

Didn’t Paul say something about preaching along these lines too? Oh yeah:

2 Timothy 4:2-4 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

(Scratch, scratch, scratch, Ooooo!)

We are to preach in season and out of season; when preaching is popular and unpopular, when liked or disliked, when good or bad, when we are ready or not, when people listen and when they don’t, when it is financially lucrative and when it is not. "Preach the word at all times," is Paul’s point.

I preach not because I am good at it, not because I like it (and I do) and certainly not for the benefits I get from it, but because I am called to preach so the “cross of Christ will not be made void” (1 Corinthians 1:17). I have tried to give up my calling to teach and preach. I wanted (and sometimes still want) to give up this impulse I have to teach and preach, but I can’t because it is not about me and it is not about you. It is all about God.

Funny thing is, a few questions earlier in the interview Pulliam asks Schuller Jr. about the theological differences between him and his dad. Schuller Jr. answers that their methods are different. His dad is “more into psychology” and he is “more into biblical teaching.”

Really? Did you miss these verses?