Something to Say
May 3, 2019
I don’t know how many of you saw “A Star is Born”, starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. It’s most definitely not a Christian movie. (Don’t judge me!) Lots of profanity and drug and alcohol abuse. It’s the story of a rock star struggling with drug and alcohol addiction who discovers a singer in a bar. He is smitten by her. He invites her to sing on stage with him. Quickly she becomes a star. His career plummets due to addiction while hers begins to soar. The advice he gives to her throughout the movie, the thing that made him a star, and the thing that will make her a star, is to ‘have something to say.’
That advice has stuck with me. Quite frankly, it’s bothered me. I wonder what it means. What does any rock star have to say that people want to hear. In our culture where people define their own truth, what does ANYONE have to say that anyone else wants to hear? As a preacher and aspiring writer, I have been asking myself, do I have something to say? I’ve been troubled by the thought that I don’t. With all of my being, when I preach on Sunday, I want to give people something to believe, and a reason to have hope. As I’ve thought about this, I have realized to my great relief that being a preacher is not the same as being a rock star. I preach different content to a different audience than a rock star. There are plenty of places that you can go to hear social and political commentary. You can listen online to TED talks about almost every subject imaginable. You can go to concerts and hear whatever message that artist is preaching. You’re not coming to church for those things. You’re coming to church not to hear me speak, but to hear God speak.
God has given us the greatest gift possible, the gift of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins. God has also given us the Bible, which teaches us everything we need to know to get to heaven, and everything we need to know about how to live until we get to heaven. Do I have something to say? I do. I have something to say because God had something to say that He wants people to hear. 2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is inspired by God (The Greek word is ‘theopneustos’. ‘Theo’, meaning ‘God’ and ‘pneustos’, meaning ‘breathed’) profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
There are a lot of preachers in the world who preach on all manner of subjects, who give social commentary or read op/ed pieces from the New York Times from the pulpit, while never mentioning the word of God. They may think have something to say, but their words have no lasting, eternal effect unless they come from the word of God. Isaiah 40:8: The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever. We should not be surprised that the word of God is neglected today. 2 Tim 4:3 says: ‘For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.’ As we continue to witness the decline in denominations that have strayed from Biblical preaching while rationalizing and accommodating sin (their own desires), we resolve to preach nothing but Christ crucified and resurrected. As the prosperity gospel preachers have told their flocks that God wants them to be healthy and wealthy (their ears tickled), we preach the word of God that prepares people for real life where suffering is a reality and has a purpose in God’s economy.
Do you have something to say? You do if you want to tell people about the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s the hope of the world and it can’t be found anywhere but the Bible. Say it!