In the context of this Biblical tradition we shall not lightly compare—let alone equate—our preaching with prophecy. We are too familiar with the feeble homily, the dull disquisition, the elegant essay, and sometimes, alas, with the impertinences of the pulpit entertainer. But our preaching may have something at least of prophetic quality if we perceive God’s presence and his purpose as the decisive factors in the situation in which we and our hearers stand. Our times urgently call for a prophetic word…. There is an essential connection between preaching and prophecy, and at times one merges with the other.1
PROPHETIC VOICE
When I received my calling into the ministry, I began to look for schools. I didn’t know what liberal or conservative was. I looked at the conservative ones, and I was more drawn to them because of their apparent focus on the Bible, exegesis, historical theology, systematic theology, biblical theology, and the biblical languages. In looking at the others, they seemed to focus more on practice. I assumed that the former was more substantive. However, I would learn that no theology or exegesis is done without cultural underpinnings. Liberal schools were honest about this, but the conservative ones I looked into seemed to see their curriculum as culturally neutral.
As I began my studies, I was excited about what I was learning, but I began to observe some cultural gaps between the white students and me. Proclaiming the gospel seemed more cerebral and conversion-centered for them. Anything outside of that was dismissed as “social gospel.” Initially, I didn’t understand that terminology, but after studying James H. Cone and other theologians, I came to understand what this meant. I found myself exegetically at home with my conservative family on the doctrines of grace, but ethically at home with my liberal family on issues of race and justice. I wasn’t comfortable with conservatives’ silence on ethical issues during virtually every major wave of injustice in America affecting blacks. But I also balked at liberals and the unclear place of conversion in their teachings.
My theological home of conservative Christianity has become more confusing as the years have gone on. Yet the crumbling ethics of liberal Christianity didn’t feel like a solid boat to jump into. So in many ways I have one foot in conservative Christianity and the other foot in liberal Christianity, but I don’t feel fully secure in either boat. What would change that for me? If conservatives found a unified prophetic voice. To state it plainly, I’d have to see a significant number of conservative Christians awaken to the far-reaching effects racism continues to have, even in the church.
Prophetic preaching is the bridge between the solid doctrine of conservative Christianity and the Christian ethics of the liberal perspective. Without it, we can easily remain in our own camp, content to cast aspersions and judgments on those on the other side. We desperately need those voices crying in the wilderness making way for His kingdom purposes on earth.
WHAT IS PROPHETIC PREACHING?
Prophetic preaching is the act of the covenant community of Jesus boldly calling all people through the gospel and Word of God back to what it looks like to reflect God’s intention for all things. When I say prophetic, I don’t necessarily mean foretelling the future, but I’m instead speaking of the forth telling. Prophetic preaching is about seeing gaps and calling people to fill them. These gaps are between God’s Word and our social-spiritual realities in our world, country, cities, and neighborhoods. Many who hear the term prophetic preaching relegate it to the social justice sphere of preaching. However, Scripture is filled with the prophetic tradition of preaching that reflects God’s heart.
Prophetic preaching is big picture visionary preaching that has street-level impact. In essence, it is the urgent call to respond to God individually and collectively. Although prophetic preaching isn’t foretelling, it presents the consequences of obedience and disobedience revealed in God’s Word. It can even be an invocation of consequences or mercy. A prophetic preacher is biblically soaked and culturally informed.
The prophetic preacher is culturally aware like the tribe of Issachar. The Issacharites understood the times and knew what Israel should do. This tribe had an intimate knowledge of what was going on, but also understood what practical moves the nation needed to make (1 Chron. 12:32). Prophetic preaching also requires being scribal like Ezra: “Now Ezra had determined in his heart to study the law of the LORD, obey it, and teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). Ezra studied, applied the Word, and then taught it. That process of study, followed by obedience based on the study, and then teaching, is essential.
The prophetic preacher’s message must have certain essentials that distinguish it from a motivational message. It must: contain the gospel, be centered on Jesus, be clear on the issues, be biblically informed, be rhetorically contending, provide visionary hope, and offer clear statements of action.
The Gospel
I know that there has been much prophetic preaching without the gospel. But we need an explicit gospel in the prophetic preaching movement for this hour. When I say the gospel, I mean communicating the content and nature of the gospel. In the words of the apostle Paul: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3–4 ESV). We must have gospel elements in the message, either in whole or in part.
The preached message must address the reality of sin, on an individual level as well as on a systemic level. This is an unpopular notion in a culture where everything is relative and there are no absolutes. But God’s Word teaches us—and we know by experience—that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). That message is more important now than ever before.
And then there is the truth of the gospel. We’ve already discussed that, but it bears repeating. God, in His matchless grace, took on human flesh to live among sinful men and to die a substitutionary death to pay for all of our sins. Christ died to satisfy the righteous demands of God. And He rose from the dead, providing access to the Father for everyone who would believe in His name. That’s the gospel. The cross is the sign that hangs over the head and is planted in the heart of the prophetic preacher. In order to preach with power and stand under the weight of the world’s brokenness, we must stand on the stained grounds of the cross. That is why Paul could say, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2 ESV). Paul prioritized Jesus’ sacrificial death when communicating to the Corinthians. And it was under the shadow of the cross that he challenged their party spirit, worldliness, and immorality.
In preaching the cross, one must communicate not only what the gospel is, but also what the gospel does. If we say what it is but don’t proclaim what it does, then we communicate God’s power abstractly. Communicating in prophetic preaching demands saying what the gospel does. In 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 Paul gives the content of the gospel, but in Romans 1:16 he gives the nature of the gospel: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.” The gospel is the power of God to make changes in people. We must be filled with faith for this as we preach. It isn’t just a shouting message; it is a transformational one. There is power in the Word! Without power, what is preaching? You can speak on justice and race with rhetorical excellence, but if the gospel isn’t presented, heart change won’t happen.
Be Centered on Jesus
We tend to reduce Jesus in the church. He is reduced to a transcendent regenerator, but in the world, He is seen as the eminent social activist/hippie. One side focuses on His individualistic spiritual goals, whereas the other believes He fights the system and leaves our lives alone. One side sees Him as savior of our souls, the other a revolutionary in our culture. One side says, “Just preach the gospel!” The other side says, “Just show the gospel!” Neither is in balance with a comprehensive picture of Jesus. Alone, each view is incomplete.
Prophetic preaching should never separate proclamation and practice. Jesus is the perfect expression of what the gospel is and what the gospel does. The gospel is the message of His redeeming life being poured out in the place of sinners to appease God’s wrath. He has been vindicated by being raised from the grave. The gospel message is that God justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies the one who places confidence in Jesus by faith (Rom. 5–8). However, the gospel not only changes the soul and eternal destiny of humans, it also changes brokenness in human relationships and society. That’s why Mark calls it the gospel of the Kingdom.
Prophetic preaching must be centered on Christ, “for everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16). In other words, Jesus is the producer of all creation. As the creator, He has a right to speak into every aspect of its inner workings. There is nothing we say that can’t be traced at its best back to Him. One of His names is the Righteous Judge or the one who Judges Rightly. By His omniscience, He is a witness to everything and His deity makes Him totally objective in judgment. Prophetic preaching that leaves Jesus out isn’t preaching; it’s just talk.
In Luke 4:17–21, Jesus makes a prophetic kingdom announcement.
The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”
Luke presents Jesus reading Isaiah 61:1–2a as a prophetic communication and a messianic fulfillment of His purpose. Jesus saw His ministry purpose in Scripture. He saw Himself as empowered by the Holy Spirit in His incarnation as a sign of divine dependence.
He also saw as a mandate the call to proclaim the gospel to the marginalized. “The poor” is a key term in Luke. It refers to the pious poor and indicates Jesus’ desire to reach out to those the world tends to forget or mistreat. The purpose of our prophetic voice is to show the world Jesus. Jesus came to show the world the Father by faithfully doing His ministry. We are called to do the same.
Be Clear on the Issues
Prophetic preaching must be clear on the issues of our day. We have to do our homework. In order to appropriately engage the issues, we must know them. There are many glaring issues that need a prophetic voice: classism, sexism, elitism, poverty, ignorance, wealth, greed, etc. We spent a significant portion of Chapter 4 talking about our history of race in America and in the Christian church. Being clear on this issue requires more than just an awareness of our history. We must also examine the impact of our history on our current-day experience. We must ask how this history is still affecting us today. What is the impact of our historical struggle with race on poverty, segregated neighborhoods, and the high concentration of black men in prison?
We must address the things that happen in our culture exegetically, expositionally, theologically, historically, critically, lovingly, passionately, humbly, and with Jesus at the center. To fail to do so is to miss out on our key role as prophetic preachers. I’m not saying that we have to jump at every issue that comes up in the world. However, we should know when an issue reaches a boiling point. It is our job to be in the Word and to soberly assess the world around us.
We are to proclaim the wisdom of God to the seen and unseen authorities. We must speak to causes of suffering and evil, both in the natural and in the spiritual. We don’t literally talk to demons and the devil, but the witness of the church in proclamation and practice has power to impact what’s behind what we engage on the natural plane. Therefore, preaching is the ultimate Spirit-empowered task. This is the heart of prophetic preaching. It declares God’s multidimensional truth to the multilayered challenges in our world that are caused by the enemy’s forces. Preaching is spiritual warfare! Ephesians 3:10 tells us that when we preach, something supernatural happens. At the core of prophetic preaching is understanding that we can impact the temporal effects of sin, but also proclaim the coming kingdom of Jesus.
Be Biblically Informed
If we are to regain our prophetic voice, we must have a solid foundation of biblical knowledge and be open to the Spirit’s leading in how to apply the balm of God’s Word to the issues of our day. In conservative evangelical circles, there has been a resurgence of talk about expository preaching. Expository preaching is driven by the biblical text. David Helm defines expositional preaching as “empowered preaching that rightfully submits the shape and emphasis of the sermon to the shape and emphasis of a biblical text.”2 I love this definition and appreciate the recent emphasis on expository preaching. Yet we can’t expect that merely going through the Bible book-by-book will automatically make us relevant. I have preached through multiple books of the Bible, but I also do topical exposition and have found it to be hugely helpful in addressing specific issues.
There seems to be this unwritten rule that anything but book-by-book exposition promotes eisegesis (reading things into the text) or the advancement of personal agendas. In other words, we tend to believe God only uses book-by-book exposition, not topical or doctrinal exposition. In 2 Timothy 4, Paul seems to exhort Timothy to have such a grasp of the Bible that he would be able to preach timely words when people need to hear them. I believe this is still needed today.
Be Rhetorically Contending
The prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New Testament were major contenders. They were bold and aggressive in dealing with those who fought against God’s plan for His people. Elijah’s standoff against the prophets of Baal is a classic example of contending for the faith (1 Kings 18). Jeremiah contended with the priests and prophets of Judah, boldly proclaiming God’s Word: “Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: The LORD sent me to prophesy all the words that you have heard against this temple and city” (Jer. 26:12).
If we are to regain our prophetic voice, we must contend for the faith against any and every detractor. Like the apostle Paul, we must be able to be bold and unashamed to preach the gospel truth (Rom. 1:16). Our voices are alarmingly quiet in the face of rampant sin and injustice in our culture. We seem to have lost sight of our call to speak truth to power. Where are the Dietrich Bonhoeffers and Martin Luther Kings of our day? Whether the detractors are the political elite, black nationalists, or prosperity gospel proponents, we must engage their false doctrines and ideas and boldly declare the gospel.
I like what Cornel West says: “If your success is defined as being well adjusted to injustice and well adapted to indifference, then we don’t want successful leaders. We want great leaders who love the people enough and respect the people enough to be unbought, unbound, unafraid, and unintimidated to tell the truth.”3
Provide Visionary Hope
Hope is the pillar of the faith that God gives His people so that they can envision change. We believe in a hopeful future because we believe it has been secured by the gospel of Jesus. That is what Dr. King did so well. And that is why the “I Have a Dream” speech resonates with so many people. Though he had not achieved the goals of equal rights, he was able to say, “I’ve been to the mountain top and mine eyes have seen the coming of the Lord!” That is hope at its best! Anticipation in the midst of challenge! Romans 15:13 has the best statement of hope ever: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” What else can you say to that? Prophetic preaching should put this in us. Although we lament, hope is on the other side!
Hope never exists in a vacuum. It produces a love that endures all things. The enduring love that God has for us through the gospel is what keeps us going. We must have enduring love in the body of Christ. Love is what causes those who have been wronged to hold on when letting go is the easy thing to do. Preaching love is the core of the gospel. Enduring with those who have wronged us is the part of the gospel that I sometimes wish wasn’t in the Bible. But it is there and must be obeyed. The words of Martin Luther King Jr. help to inspire us and give us much needed hope when we want to quit loving those who wrong us: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”4 Prophetic preaching involves explaining what love looks like in action. We have to love when our desired ends have not been met—and we hold on and persevere because our hope lies in Him.
Offer Clear Statements of Action
I have been privileged to share the message of the Woke Church across the country for a few years now. I am encouraged that there is a real desire to know what we, the church, can do to regain our prophetic voice. We will devote an entire chapter to that discussion, but in this space let me suggest that the church—from its beginning—has been known for acting on behalf of the poor and the neglected. The example of the church in Acts 6 in dealing with the issues raised when the Grecian widows were being neglected serves as a template for us today. The church was known for its prophetic care of its members.
We are called to advocate for the poor as an outworking of being a wise covenant community. This is the legacy of the church. Defending the cause of the needy and oppressed is a huge role that we are to be known for as the people of God. It should be an expectation that they have of us and that we have of ourselves. God’s people must function in such a way that we become identified with those who are needy and do not have a voice.
There are many churches that see this as a critical need and responsibility. The black church, because of its history and formation, saw this as essential for survival.
In his examination of the economic situation in African American communities, Du Bois concluded that any study of “economic cooperation among Negroes must begin with the Church group.” He was referring to the founding and establishment of black churches during the period of slavery and in the aftermath of the Civil War. Black church members literally pooled their pennies and meager resources to buy land to erect church buildings in both the North and the South. During Reconstruction when many African Americans left the plantations or were driven off, they often settled in nearby black communities, working as sharecroppers on their former master’s land or as tenant farmers. These communities were often led by their pastors, and their churches became the first communally built institutions. As the central and dominant institutions in their various communities, black churches performed other critical roles and functions in the economic sphere to ease somewhat the onerousness of abject deprivation.5
As a prophetic community, the black church served historically in America as a modern-era, New Testament church. You can’t talk about gospel-centered and Christ-centered ministry without talking about the black church. Circumstances forced the black church to look for answers in the Bible and develop a theology that became a robust, comprehensive view of the gospel. The gospel for the black church was to impact all of life—both soul and the body and the systems in which the disciple found himself. Paul said, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). Paul viewed the spirit, soul, and body as a gateway into the experience of the believer.
What does this have to do with prophetic care? Everything! Judging rightly and treating the poor justly is an outworking of loving your neighbor as yourself. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he quoted Leviticus 19:18: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD” (NIV). He saw this as equal to the Shama in Deuteronomy 6:5: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
Pastoring a church in the core of the city places us on the front line in ways that can feel overwhelming. In the beginning, we took these challenges case by case, but as we came into contact with people and began seeing micro cases as a macro problem, we have begun to create systems to be more intentional in our approach. Our goal is for the church to be known to our community and city as a bulwark of kindness.
The chaos in our communities and in our world seems to cry out, “Is there a word from the Lord? Is there manna from heaven to soothe the soul ache of mankind? Is there a balm in Gilead?” The response from a Woke Church that has regained its prophetic voice is a resounding yes! Jesus is still the answer for the world today. I’m praying that God will cause our souls to turn to Him. It is crucial that we engage. And we need Him to help us, first of all, not forget the gospel. We need Him to help us not forget the centrality of Jesus, the might of the cross, and the power of the resurrection to save and transform souls. And we need Him to help us not forget that there are Kingdom implications for everything we do and everything we neglect to do.