1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins |
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We all know there is some serious truth in most cliches, right?
But man, do I hate ‘em. I’m not going to lie – they give me that icky, corny feeling. Like there is a lack of intelligence that caused an individual to recycle old, tired “jargon”, if you will. Like it’s the brain’s most lazy track or rut of “association” (i.e. “this immediately reminds me of that”; and rusty old cliches are vomited quickly from the mouth).
Therefore, I typically try to stay away from cliches. And unfortunately, I think it’s robbing me a little bit. Yeah. My fear of sappiness can definitely keep me from learning some important lessons.
Let’s take this one, for example: “Practice what you preach.”
It’s interesting… I was at Passion City Church this past Sunday night at the Tabernacle (http://www.passioncitychurch.com), and Louie Giglio – the pastor – brought up the scripture I placed at the top of this post. His main assertion that he drew for the audience was about bringing God’s love to “the broken-hearted”, “the captive”, and “all who mourn”. And he made it clear that the application was “practical”… not just idealism.
So I started thinking about this word “preach”. It makes what I find to be a very interesting appearance in the very first part of the very first verse of the passage (as it does in many translations): “to preach good news to the poor”.
If I walk by a poor man and tell him, “I’ll be praying for you – God is good”, does he believe me? It may be “good news”, but he probably won’t buy it. So are my words preaching to that man – to “the poor” that God’s affection surrounds in the bible? Again, I’m thinking no.
But if I sit with him a while and talk with him, find out if he’s hungry, meet that very immediate need, and then see what other needs I can meet for him, surrounding him with my affections… then is he more likely to believe me when I tell him, “God is good”? Yeah – that’s “good news”. So my words weren’t really preaching… at least by themselves.
But my actions are. I’d venture to say they can nearly stand alone as “preaching the gospel”.
To me, the word “preach” is losing more and more of it’s vocal meaning, and gaining tons of significance in the area of “practice”. I don’t think “practicing” and “preaching” are two separate things. I think it’s fair to say they are the same.
Now, am I going to just do all kinds of wonderful things for people and never tell them that it’s the love of Christ that compels me to do so? Are you nuts?!
But let’s just say I didn’t ever say a word. Who’s more likely to find hope? The man I “wordlessly” treat with love and care as human being, or the man to whom I toss a few words about the bible?
Hmmm.
Grace and Peace. -jc
3 responses so far ↓
willmington // February 17, 2009 at 7:53 pm |
good word, my friend, and good witness about you and your family’s work with your neighbors
David Cole // February 18, 2009 at 5:34 pm |
Very excelente! This passage is what I consider the “job description” of ministry. I figure if it was important enough for Jesus to literally start His “on earth ministry” with, then it’s probably pretty doggone important and I should do the same. THIS is where we start.
I’ve been training young warriors from this passage since the 80’s, it’s just that good!
I was also encouraged by Louie’s posturing on it because I base everything we do around it at wrc. He’s smart like that!
This word preach is “basar” in the hebrew meaning “to announce” which could have a multitude of methods or modes – actual preaching in a meeting, talking with a friend – new or old, and so on, BUT not just on-stage-preaching!
You put it very well maestro.
Danny Schoenfelt // July 13, 2009 at 1:58 am |
A few friends and I have started something we call “5 Dollar Missions” here in Colorado Springs. It was an idea that God gave me a couple years ago, but has just become a reality in the last 2 months. We meet at a McDonalds and each buy 5 (or so) -$1 sandwiches and then head to a nearby park. We give out the sandwiches with a can of soda and a handshake and a smile to homeless men and women, most of whom live in tents not far from the park. Tonight we had a group of about 20 waiting on us when we arrived. We went thru 35 sandwiches and cans of soda in about 15 minutes.
We just hang out mostly… hear their stories, find out what else we can do to help… offer prayer when it comes up.
Mind if I post a link to your blog on facebook?