No Technological Replacement
The sundry ways in which technology has changed and
defined our world is encyclopedic. One of the greatest technological
advances (some would argue THE Greatest) was the Printing Press by
Johannes Gutenberg circa 1440 A.D. The printing press replaced the
painstaking work of scribes in copying written materials.
Gutenberg’s technological advance made possible the mass
production-distribution of the Scriptures.
The twentieth century was the story of three
remarkable technological advancements: the internal combustion
engine, the transistor and the wireless revolution. A history of
these technologies demonstrates that a particular product can be
rendered obsolete in a matter of months by the next technological
iteration. On Friday, October 14, 2011 tens of thousands of iPhone3
and Blackberry loyalists formed lines outside of wireless vendors to
get the latest and greatest iPhone4 as a replacement.
The twenty-first century will no doubt tell the story
of more technological advancements with such and such a product
replacing this or that clunker. But there’s one commodity on this
earth for which there never has been and never will be a
technological replacement. That, my friend, is the God-anointed
preacher!
In the last century of church history, denominational
bodies have modified the manner in which they organize themselves to
better ‘accommodate’ the needs of the flock. We now have ‘Senior’
pastors, ‘Worship’ leaders, ‘Program’ administrators and any number
of other monikers to delineate roles. Now, there’s nothing
inherently wrong with organizational structure. God is a God of
order. Our problem is feeling like we’re ‘good to go’ when we have a
peg in every hole of the organizational chart. It’s like a captain
feeling he can now take his ship to sea because it has a full
complement of crewmembers. That might work for our ship captain and
the course he’s charted for his vessel, but will prove inadequate
for the Church and the mission for which God has tasked her. For the
work of the captain is nautical; but that of the Church is
supernatural!
Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The
Word of God is supernatural! It needs no embellishment from man to
be what it is! It can meet a man or woman in their private devotions
with the same dynamic impact one might experience in a
congregational meeting. It’s alive, full of power, and with a
sharper cutting edge than any earthly artisan is able to produce. It
penetrates the spirit of man and impacts his physical body. It can
get into his mind and expose the substance of his thoughts and
motivations of heart. It has the power to turn your world and mine
upside down!
So how does the supernatural Word relate to the
God-anointed preacher? The logic takes the form of a question:
Should the man of God who handles the truth be any less lively, any
less endued with power, any less sharp than the truth he is
handling? How incongruent for the handler of supernatural truth to
proclaim it within the confines of natural ability! The apostle Paul
said: “…for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” (2
Corinthians 3:6). In the context, Paul is contrasting the law of
Moses with the gospel. But as a matter of application, is the
powerless preacher who handles the letter of scripture without the
life-giving force of the Spirit any less fatal?
In Acts 6:1–8:8, we find a narrative that tells how
one God-anointed preacher replaced another. It is a story that
involved two men of the early Church—Stephen and Philip. Luke
mentioned them together in Acts 6:5. He says Stephen was a man “full
of faith and of the Holy Ghost” (6:5), “full of faith and power”
(6:8). It’s no injustice to scripture to extrapolate those qualities
to Philip inasmuch as he demonstrated them in Acts 8. Stephen was
NOT an apostle, but he operated in apostolic power…as did Philip.
Stephen was a master orator and miracle worker in the early Church.
His death was mourned with “great lamentation” (8:2). Perhaps some
asked: “Is there any way to replace this man of God? Who’s going to
fill his shoes?” Enter Philip.
The persecution that scattered the Church sent Philip
to Samaria, where a few years earlier Jesus had sown the gospel seed
in the heart of a woman who was a five-time marital loser.
Apparently the fields that Jesus said were “white already to
harvest” (John 4:35) were STILL ready for harvesting, for “the
people with one accord gave heed to the things that Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did” (Acts 8:6). The Church
is in good hands when the passing of one God-anointed preacher sets
the stage for another of equal caliber!
The technological age in
which we live has given Church leaders a bevy of tools for ministry.
The busy pastor now has electronic resources in the form of
concordances, Greek-Hebrew lexicons and hundreds of thousands of
books on CD, making other hard-copy assets virtually obsolete. He
can develop superior sermon content at any local McDonalds with
laptop, CD collection and free Wi-Fi. There is one commodity,
however, for which there is no technological replacement—the
God-anointed preacher!
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