The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death (Proverbs 13:14).

I sometimes feel like I could live the rest of my life without ever hearing another sermon.  Call it learning style, call it spiritual gifting or personal preference -- call it whatever you want -- but I genuinely believe that my life or my faith would not be lacking anything without the classic Christian preaching that has become so distinctive of our brand of faith over the last couple of centuries.  I know that other people have very strong, very different, beliefs about this.  But I, personally, learn better through self-discovery and experience.  My own times of reading and studying the Bible, or my own times of having to work out the practice of my theology in the real world -- these are the ways in which I most typically hear the voice of God and feel myself challenged to conform to the likeness of Christ.  For me, it's not through a sermon or a "sermon-book" (though I've been referred to hundreds of these resources over the years, all offered by Christians who have obviously experienced these spiritual stimuli in very different ways).  Again, let me reiterate that this is a matter of personal preference.  At the same time, when it comes to leading my own church, serving as a pastor and (ironically) a preacher, I do tend to de-emphasize the preaching part of things and focus more on facilitating self-discovery, experiential learning, and on-the-job training.

But I have to say:  Proverbs 13:14 gives me pause, when it comes to considering the place for preaching in my church (and in Christian ministry in general).  The Proverb says that "the teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death."  And while I'm still convinced that I (and other people) can be turned away from the snares of death by alternative means, it does seem that there's something to be said for creating a forum for "the teaching of the wise."  That is:  there really is something significant about giving the pulpit -- or, in our church's case, the microphone -- to those who have greater wisdom, experience, and spiritual-gifting when it comes to interpreting and expounding upon the Scriptures, to let them bring their wisdom to bear on a wider public.  I've heard it from beloved people in my own church, saying that they need sermons for their own spiritual well-being.  It's not just about the unhealthy, passive, consumeristic "getting fed" argument (which I still vehemently reject).  For many believers, preaching helps them to turn away from the snares of death and provides them with a fountain of life.  Now, I still might contend that preaching is not the only fountain of life in operation (given different people's different learning styles); but let's face it:  our churches need all the "fountains of life" we can get.

All that to say this:  I'm challenged, by Proverbs 13:14, to give preaching an honored place at the table of our church's fellowship, even though it may not be my natural bent.  I need to develop my skills as a preacher -- and, perhaps even more importantly, I need to seek out the people within our church to whom God has given these gifts of preaching and teaching, so that they can develop their skills to bless the church with this fountain of life, this teaching of the wise.  My personal lack of priority when it comes to preaching has never been motivated by post-modern deconstructionist tendencies, an aversion to biblical authority, or personal laziness -- which are often listed by preaching proponents as the contributing factors in the "demise of preaching" in Western Christianity.  As a matter of fact, I have a very high value on Christian traditions, on the authority of God's Word for our lives, and on hard work.  The lack of personal emphasis on preaching has been more personal than anything.  Proverbs 13:14 challenges me to reconsider that, in a healthy way.  I want to help the church to be as life-giving an environment as possible.  Thus, I want to create as much room as possible for the teaching of the wise.  Exactly how (and how much) we do that may still take some time to sort out.  But it's not a question of if, in my mind.  I hope and pray that God will lead my church -- and other churches around the world -- to find the place for preaching.  And it seems to me that such a prayer is exactly the kind of prayer that God is eager to answer.