By Jack Wyman

If you stopped to listen you may have heard it.

The faint echo of angelic praise.

The heavenly accolade. The divine benediction on a life well-lived.

Dr. Charles Frazier Stanley, whose teaching and preaching ministry anchored historic First Baptist Church in Atlanta for 49 years and touched the world, “slipped the surly bonds of earth” this week at the age of 90. He died peacefully at his home.

God was pleased to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

The man born in Dry Fork, Virginia, was a pioneer of religious broadcasting. He founded In Touch Ministries in 1977. His goal was to “get the truth of the Gospel to as many people as possible.” The legacy he left can only be described as phenomenal.

Dr. Stanley’s sermons, podcasts, and devotionals reached over 115 million homes each week in more than 126 countries. Today, he can be heard in virtually every nation on earth. In addition to his sermons and broadcasts, Stanley authored over 60 books, many of which landed on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Dr Stanley was revered in Southern Baptist circles, serving twice as president of the world’s biggest Protestant denomination in the 1980s.

His son, Andy, as pastor of the large North Point Community Church in Georgia, followed his father’s calling, but not always in his footsteps. The father was an old-school gentleman, always formally attired in elegant suit and tie. He preached from a large ornate pulpit. Dignity mattered.

The son is a jeans and open-collared contemporary church guy. Cool more than elegant. A bottle of water, and high-legged stool are his props. Relating matters.

Together, the Stanleys represent the considerable social, cultural, and religious changes that have transpired in America over the past 50 years. Dr. Stanley’s death is more than a simple changing of the guard. It symbolizes the passing of an era.

Stanley’s life and ministry should prompt us to take stock of our American spiritual and religious situation. And to consider once again the preeminence God attaches to preaching—and why.

Charles Stanley accepted the accuracy of the Bible and embraced its full authority. It is, he insisted, the revealed and inerrant Word of God. To him, preaching was a high calling, a unique opportunity, and a sacred obligation. He approached it with seriousness and a thoughtful and painstaking preparation. The pulpit to him was the sacred desk. The scriptures were sacred writ.

He believed in the power of the biblical text, studied it, concentrated on it, expounded on it, illustrated it, and applied it to life. Biblical preaching, Stanley believed, was central to the life of the church, the lives of individual Christians, and the health, strength, and future of Christianity itself.

Dr. Stanley, while preaching, would often point his long index finger to his congregation and say with a soft but firm assertion, “Listen to me now.” His urgent exhortation was not that the hearer would listen to him, but would listen to God speaking through the proclamation of his truth. That gave Stanley the confidence to rivet the attention of his audience.

The prophet Amos said that in the last days God would send a famine, not of food or water, but of the hearing of the words of the Lord. People would yearn for and seek truth in preaching but fail to find it.

Preaching today faces many challenges, and we must recognize them, and seek discernment in addressing them. Among these are two that are serious and must be confronted if we are to re-assert the primacy of biblical preaching. Each of these challenges finds its root in culture and politics. Both typify the overflow of the world into the task of expounding the Word.

First, there is the claim by some that America is God’s chosen Christian nation, the Republican Party his instrument of spiritual revival, and the evangelical church God’s political headquarters. But politics and ideology must not infiltrate and infect the pulpit.

True biblical preaching rises above mere politics and finds the source of its power and authority not in a platform, a party, an agenda, or an election blueprint. Biblical preaching finds its ultimate authority in the revealed Word of God—the Bible—as God’s eternal and incontrovertible truth.

Let that be preached, without compromise or apology. Let us sink or swim in that shared conviction, no matter the tides and turmoil. And let’s remember this: God’s not a Republican. He’s not even an American.

Second, there is the danger that as the nation drifts further from God and his truth, with the inevitable tragic consequences, many pastors will be tempted in their preaching to trim the sails of that truth in the false names of compassion, tolerance and greater understanding.

Too many churches and preachers have a passion for relevance above all else. They let popular culture inform their views too much. They will accommodate, conciliate, and equivocate. They seem prepared to pay any price to be respected and accepted. But those who would sup with the devil should bring a long spoon.

God does not adjust his opinions to focus groups. He will not amend or retract what he’s already declared in his Word.

Let that be preached, without compromise or apology. Let us sink or swim in that shared conviction, no matter the tides and turmoil. And let’s remember this: culture and polls are not the final arbiters of spiritual truth.

“Preaching exists,” said Scottish pastor James Stewart, “not for the propagating of views, opinions, and ideals, but for the proclamation of the mighty acts of God.”

Let’s thank God for the integrity, courage, and faithfulness of Charles Stanley, his life, and his example. Let’s thank God for the considerable influence and impact of Dr. Stanley’s ministry around the world.

And let us pray God will raise up others like him.

As was said of Christian at the close of Bunyan’s epic story:

“So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.”

To order Jack Wyman’s book, “Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World”, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.

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