Back when I was a boy, before churches got "sophisticated", I can remember a lot of things. One of them was the preaching. Don't get me wrong, there are various styles of preaching, and God calls different men, all with varying personalities and gifts. Some are more teacher oriented, talking calmly and teaching step by step. Others are exhorters and get very excited, desiring to plead with sinners to come to the fountain of Life. Some are a mixture. But what I remember most, are the "exhorter" style of preachers.
In Baptist and Methodist churches, especially in the South, preachers would "take the stand". This term goes back to the days before they had pulpits. There was usually just a rail on an elevated stand or platform, much like the "stand" in a courtroom, but in the center rather than to the side. This is where the phrase "would the witness please take the stand" comes from in court proceedings. How fitting that Baptists would call on someone to preach to "take the stand". It is there that the witness of one who has been called, stood to tell the truth, in the court room of faith. In the stand, the preacher would tell of God's promises, His goodness, and His faithfulness. It was from the stand that they would invite the lost to give up and give in to God.
Many times at the close of his sermon, the preacher would walk down from the stand, shaking hands with the people, as he continued to preach. Sometimes, the preacher would know one who is lost and in travail, under conviction of sin. He might also know of some who were in a backslidden state, that needed to come home. He might even take the hand of the person. He might say something like "Aren't you thirsty?" or "Isn't it time to come home?". It was often the catalyst some needed to repent, become born again. For others it was the encouragement they needed to come home, and get right with God.
When I visited the Sandy Creek Baptist Church, which Elder Shubal Stearns had constituted, they told me that this is a practice that he employed. The Sandy Creek Primitive Baptist Church sits right next door. The two churches are so close together, you can look out of the window and see the other church. the Primitives have restored the original log church, and 'the stand" with no pulpit is exactly as it was when Elder Stearns preached there. I commend them for this. But I grieve that restoring the "stand" and log structure to its original state, is important to them, yet they have no desire to "restore" what actually took place on the stand. And what took place was the preaching of the Gospel. The preaching was NOT designed to "comfort" those who were already saved. They needed no comfort, for their thirst had already been satisfied. The preaching that Elder Stearns employed was one that boomed with a mighty voice so strong that sinners sometimes couldn't even wait for an invitation to be given. To some who were already saved, but living a life with little light, he would start out by booming loudly of God's displeasure. It was anything but "comfortable".
Near the end of his sermon, it is said that his voice would lower, become very gentle, and his holy tone style of preaching would turn into normal, emotional speech. This description reminds me of my own father, who had a booming voice and when I had done something purposely wrong, I would definitely hear about it loudly. Then my father would lower his voice, tell me how much he loved me, put his arms around me and say "I'm not proud of what you've done, but I am proud that you're my son". This would sear into my conscience both the displeasure and the love of my father. Is this not what preaching is supposed to be? Is it not a warning and assurance of God's love at the same time? Didn't Jesus say that " “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”?
If a man is going to "take the stand" he ought to tell the truth. If he doesn't, he is a false prophet, and the Scriptures are very clear about what happens to false prophets. If you take the stand only to comfort and lull the people to sleep, you don't know the truth. You open the Scriptures every week and yet are blind to what truth is. You are like Pontius Pilate who asked Jesus "what is truth?" when truth itself was staring him in the face. You "find no fault in Him" yet you give the crowd what they want. You give them Barabbas instead of Jesus. Ken Mann
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