WHY WE PREACH

(1 Corinthians 1:18 , New International Version)

There was once a famous stage actor who sold out theaters. People came from far and wide to see him. They hung on his performances, marveling at how he brought his characters to life. One day, a local clergyman whose large church had dwindling numbers, approached him. He couldn’t help but ask the actor, “How is it that you can pack out theaters, but I’m preaching to empty pews?”

The actor replied, “Because an actor acts as if his fiction is true…while a clergyman preaches the truth as if it’s fiction.”

What a telling response!

People want something real. They want the truth, even if they don’t realize it. We, the Body of Christ, have that truth, and we need to share it with the world with boldness and clarity. But let me warn you: When we do, we will take some heat.

A History of Foolishness

In this current climate, a lot of people look at the Church like we’re crazy. Instead of hearing the truth of the Word of God, they’re leaning on their man-made, man-approved philosophies.

This isn’t anything new. In Acts 18:1-17, we read that Paul founded a church in Corinth, the most important city in Greece at that time. It was a bustling hub of commerce, culture and religion. In that place, he was dealing with an intellectual crowd who relied on reason and human thought and had no understanding of the things of God.

In his first letter to those Corinthians, Paul addressed this exact issue. He wrote:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1 Corinthians 1:18-20, New International Version).

The message of the Cross is still foolishness to our humanistic, intellectual world. As preachers, our whole profession is foolishness to them.

These last few years have been crazy, but even in this season, Jesse Duplantis Ministries has thrived. We reached 15 million new people through social media. But when I began to preach about what fueled the pandemic, which was fear, the social media sites took down my videos! God was gracious though. He still grew our ministry and allowed us to reach more people than we’ve ever reached before, praise God!

News commentators, political pundits and television personalities all think we’ve missed it. They think preachers, pastors and the Body of Christ are dumb, but we aren’t. Agnostics and atheists can’t understand why we teach and rely on the Word of God. To them, it’s foolishness. It’s no wonder they call us idiots.

That’s what happened in Athens. The unbelievers thought Paul was the biggest idiot they’d ever seen. They called him a babbler. His story, the gospel, made no sense to them, but it didn’t matter what they thought. God’s truth still stood strong. His Word stands. His Son stands. It may be foolishness to the world, but it’s life to those who believe.

Nothing Supersedes the Gospel

When Paul arrived in Athens, he talked about Jesus—a Jew—who had been crucified on a cross. The intellectuals of that area—the Greeks—wondered, Why does that Jewish man matter to me? They thought the gospel Paul preached was absurd. They thought that since the Romans crucified Jesus, He must have been a criminal. They couldn’t understand why Paul wanted them to worship Him.

But Paul was smart. He knew that while the intellectuals could deliver philosophy, they couldn’t deliver truth. One day Paul spoke to the intellectuals in Athens right where they were, addressing an altar that was central to their culture:

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things…. For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his o spring (Acts 17:23-25, 28).

Paul may have been seen as a babbler, but he began to change their lives with the good news. Yes, the gospel is foolishness to the world. As a preacher, my whole profession is foolishness to unbelievers. Nothing supersedes it, though, because those who don’t believe have nothing better to o er. They can’t compete with God’s truth.

The Foolishness That Transforms Lives

The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Take giving, for example. The world doesn’t understand why Bible-believing Christians give money like we do. They don’t understand the laws of sowing and reaping at the spiritual level, only in the physical. But we’re spiritual farmers—sowing in season and reaping in season. When someone comes to Christ and learns what it means to sow and reap in the spirit, they flourish. Why? Because the Word restores, lifts and rescues those who believe it. Even Jesus wasn’t immune from this. People looked at Him and said, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).

Jesus’ response? “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes” (Matthew 11:25).

He didn’t care if they thought Him a fool. He knew the power of the Word to restore, lift and rescue those who believed it. When the heart and the conscience are touched, the will is subdued. The truth of the gospel and the foolishness of our preaching come together to do something magnificent. It subdues the will of men and transforms lives.

Simply Irresistible

A wonderful pastor friend of mine once told me, “Jesse, you make Jesus irresistible.” I love that. I hope I always make God Almighty irresistible so that people say, “I just got to get around this Jesus.”

That’s what Paul did. He made God Almighty irresistible to the would-be wise men of his day. He proved to them that he was called by God with the Word of God. They weren’t influenced by a philosophy (Colossians 2:8).

They were transformed by the gospel, by the power of the Word. Preaching of the Word is not foolishness. It’s only would-be wise men who consider it foolishness.

It’s a solemn responsibility of every preacher, pastor and believer to present the gospel. When we do, we are a divinely appointed channel of divinely ordained foolishness. That’s why the world thinks of us as fools, but their opinion doesn’t matter. Like Jesus, we answer to our heavenly Father, not the world.

Every miracle Jesus performed defied all logic. It started with Him turning six water jugs into wine and ended with an empty tomb. It was foolishness to the wise men of His day, but it’s not foolishness to God.

Two thousand years later, Jesus is still defying logic, only now it’s through us revealing truth, laying hands on the sick, living without debt, and casting out demons. That’s the foolishness of our preaching.

Let’s not preach the truth as if it’s fiction. Let’s preach it for the life-changing, transforming power of God that it is. Praise God, let’s embrace it!

Separating yourself unto God opens the door for Him to be the Father to you He desires to be.

(2 Cor. 6:17-18)

God created you to be a vessel of His glory and walk in the light.

(1 Thes. 4:1)

Walking in holiness is part of your divine calling.

(1 Thes. 4:7)

HOLINESS DOESN’T COME FROM STRIVING LEGALISTICALLY TO KEEP RULES AND REGULATIONS.

(Gal. 5:16)

by Melanie Hemry