Imagine going to church to worship God and there is no one to preach. You don’t have to imagine… it has happened.
When God’s people assembled… there was no preacher to proclaim the Word. So they sang a hymn, had the Lord’s supper, received the offering, and went home.
Not deacon spoke about the beauties and glory of God. No member of the staff gave testimony to God’s mercy, grace, or love. So the pulpit was empty…
Observing the Lord’s Supper is proclaiming the Gospel, but maybe I’m a little old fashioned in thinking that every time the Lord’s Supper is observed there should be an explanation of the bread and cup. God’s people should NEVER assemble without hearing the Gospel proclaimed in words. There should be a proclamation about the resurrection. Words should be spoken about the soon return of Christ. Someone should point to Jesus being the way of salvation… with words. As it is written in Romans 10:14...
But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
I dread the day there is no one to fill the pulpit to proclaim the Gospel with words. If you want to know what that looks like, look at the cathedrals in Europe today. Consider what is found in Amos 8:11-12…
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.”
Just a reflection…