We gather to hear the preached Word of God, rooted in the message of God’s kingdom and its being set forth by the one we look to as Lord and Savior. First and foremost, and even though it takes a form that is quite a bit different from what we can see in the apostolic churches as seen in Acts or as historically reconstructed from the letters of the New Testament, we gather to hear the preached Word. All other reasons take second place, for it is the divine proclamation, that Jesus of Nazareth is the crucified and resurrected Lord of all (the Gospel), that is of paramount importance.
We can see the evidence of the fundamental importance of the divine proclamation throughout Scripture. God speaks and brings the created order into existence. God speaks to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and so forth. The prophets make proclamations. John the Baptist proclaimed the near advent of the kingdom of God. Jesus fused His doing with teaching, presenting Himself as the world’s true Lord and bringing about the fusion of heaven and earth. Jesus sends His disciples out to tell His message and to express the same. The church springs into existence and thousands are ushered into the kingdom when Peter and the disciples begin to preach the message of the Gospel. Paul points out the crucial elements of hearing and preaching as the way that faith is implanted and the power of the Resurrection takes root within the hearer. Revelation is a series of pronouncements. One could go on and on. It is in the proclamation of the Word of God, preaching the Gospel that possesses within it the power for transformation so that the Gospel message is lived by its proclaimers, that God is revealed; and this is the fundamental and primary purpose of the church’s gathering.
Though the setting in which a preacher stands behind a pulpit while the audience listens, would be foreign to the original followers of Jesus, and wouldn’t be recognizable to them as “church,” which, for them, took place at a community meal, we can generalize and say that the preacher preaches (the teacher teaches) so that God may be made known. This fact has always been true of the church of Christ, even if it was not done in what has become the most familiar form. The preacher preaches so that his hearers can learn about God and know more about God. Knowledge about God is transmitted so that those that made in the image of God, who are called to be covenant bearers, might be able to correctly and effectively bear that image and covenant, so that they might be a blessing to all peoples, and that God may receive the glory that is due to Him for His mighty acts.
While God is acknowledged through our praises, knowledge of Him is conveyed through the preaching of the Scriptures, which convey information about God, His character, His means, His purposes, and His goals. The primary subject of proclamation in the time and places of regular Christian gatherings for worship must be God, as revealed in the narrative of Scripture, and the primary activity must be proclamation. Yes, the primary activity that must take place at these regular appointments must be preaching and teaching (communicating knowledge of God for the purpose of rightly being His divine image-bearers and representatives, with an understanding rooted in the historical recollections of God’s activity in His world, so that kingdom might be properly performed), for it is in the transformative proclamation of the Gospel that the power of the Resurrection is sent forth, and it is in this that knowledge is seated.
This instruction in knowledge, which has and always will require great discipline and diligence, is of paramount importance, and should not only inspire the hearers to a constant desire to learn more about God, but also to live lives of praise to God. Living this life of praise will not result in a withdrawal from the world around them, into a self-imposed and ungodly exile that has the believer erecting their own temples. If learning more about God causes the hearer to retreat from the world, in separation, isolation, and condemnation fostered by an “us versus them” mentality, then that preaching has gone woefully astray from that which is modeled by Jesus, and springs not from a diligent study of Scriptures so as to learn more about God, but from a subjective and self-satisfying interpretation of Scripture designed for little more than the gaining of personal control over the lives of the hearers and the all too familiar pursuit of power. Instead, living a life of praise will result in the erection of a multiplicity of tabernacles, placed within a fallen world as a symbol of constant exodus, in which, like the one claimed as Lord, the believer goes out to show forth the blessings of God’s kingdom to “tax collectors and sinners,” to the sick, to the thirsty, to the hungry, to those lacking clothes, to those in prison, and to the places where pain and evil are corrupting God’s creation and thwarting the advance of His kingdom.
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