Irreverance in Preaching (Part 2)

When Paul called the pagan Athenians “very religious” (Acts 17:22 NIV) he was being irreligious. He was disregarding “the traditions of men” of his day and speaking their language. In the modernist age, one could assume that most people in western culture were churched. In this age, one must assume the opposite. In a modernist church, one can assume that the people want to be there, they respect the pastor because he is a pastor, and they understand the language and traditions of the church. At our church we try to assume that they do not necessarily want to be there, they don’t know anything, they have no reason to automatically like or respect us, and that they are not interested in what we have to say. Then we try to plan what we must do to win them over and introduce them to the God who reveals himself in Christ in the Scriptures. This may seem irreverent, but we call it “missional.”

Another aspect of irreverence is the language, culture, and history of this age. There is a new ethos of basic societal norms and mores that do not relate to some of the modernist “traditions of men.” Some things that are commonly considered properly “Christian” in one generation are not reverenced as good, or even “Christian,” in the next. It is ironic that a modernist will want the “truly Christian traditional hymns” properly sung in his church, while some of these same hymns were apparently forbidden in churches by Queen Elizabeth I, as she condemned them as vulgar “Geneva jigs.” This is also true of speech, dress, attitudes, and habits.

 Author Jacob Chanowski is quoted as saying, “It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot, irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.” Often faith is misplaced in what Christians assume to “know.” There is a need to question what is “known” to determine if it is actually what God reveals to be true for life and faith practice, or merely “the traditions of (the) men” of the last generation.

There is a postmodern casualness that is appropriate for the language, culture, and history of this age. This is reflected in casual speech, dress, attitudes, and habits. Again, these may shock some who are more accustomed to a modernist ethos, but what is important is to differentiate between what is truly of God, which must always be reverenced, and what is merely a “tradition of men,” which may be reverenced by one generation, but not another. The authentically Christian postmodern preacher will discern the difference and preach with appropriate irreverence.