A Dangerous Call (Part 2)

When I started this blog, I made it a goal to try and post on average once a month, but it hasn't even been a week since my first/last post and I've been itching to add to what I said last. So here we go!

My last post mentioned the central issue modern evangelical churches face today-- the loss of confidence in Holy Scripture. Not only have we lost confidence in the Word of God, but the church has reverted to the expectations found in present culture. We nowadays often find pulpits filled with psychologists, story tellers, and cheerleaders-- All of which are sadly known by all too well to most churched people.  All these styles possess one thing in common—robbing God of His glory by unsuccessfully attempting to aid His Word. I might note, that story telling is not all bad. It can be a helpful tool to directly apply the Word, but it is no substitute to preaching what was written under the Divine inspiration of God.

There is a growing contemporary distrust of anything authoritative in Western culture that has badly infected the church as we know it.  Liberals have challenged the miraculous by attempting to “demythologize Christ.” --liberals challenging the miraculous and questioning the divine and opposing the historicity of the New Testament documents. This is inherently dangerous to the spreading of the gospel because it ultimately takes away from the Deity of Christ and the authority of His inspired Word. The church cannot tolerate the adjustment of the gospel message to what people want to hear. Instead it must remain faithful to what God has commanded to declare. Dick Lucas said it well when he wrote, “The pew cannot control the pulpit. We cannot deliver ‘demand led’ preaching because no one demands the Gospel.”

Expository preaching is important firstly because it gives glory to God, which ought to be the chief end of everything we do. Exposition starts with the text of Scripture and its proclamation of almighty God, exalting Him to His rightful place above all else.  Secondly it requires the shepherd of the church, the pastor,  to study the word of God.  John Owen once said, “A man only preaches a sermon well to others if he has first preached it to himself… if the word does not dwell in power in us, it will not pass in power from us.” When God’s word is being preached faithfully, His sheep are being strengthened, fed, and herded. 

The Bible is the inspired Word of God—inerrant, and fully authoritative. Churches must not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by preaching of the Word and the work of the Holy Spirit.  Scripture’s purpose, as all of creation’s, is to magnify the Glory of God, and there is no other way to do that more faithfully than to preach the Word as it is.  The God of the Bible is the Alpha and Omega. It is silly to think we can assist the power of His Word by making it “user-friendly" or making a new beginning or new end.

Preaching the Word is a difficult task. Exposition of God's Word takes time of rigorous training and study of history, languages, word syntax, etc.  Preaching in this way is positively the most time consuming and the most challenging. It's no wonder that we have so many preachers shying away from the call to "preach the Word..." and be able to "rightly divide the Word of Truth." But preaching the Word of God faithfully and in the power of the Holy Spirit will edify and grow a church. Though it may not be the fastest proven technique, it is the only way that will give lasting nourishment and life. Just as Martin Luther said, “…for God’s Word cannot be without God’s people and, conversely, God’s people cannot be without God’s Word.”

Shepherding a church will more often than not be controversial, unglamorous, and taxing. A pastor at times may feel that his extensive efforts and long times of study, prayer, and petition for the church are expended in vain. After all, the message that we bear is offensive to the world. No one demands the gospel. Moreover, the task of a pastor in preaching the Word of God has a nasty way of getting him into trouble. In fact it could be said that the more faithfully a minister preaches the text, the more controversy it will bring. It is not a popular message, but it’s power and depth is mysterious beyond the human intellect. No man can cause this to happen, but the Gospel’s message is world-altering, life-changing, groundbreaking truth that will always impact those who hear it. Just as the prophet Jeremiah speaks of the message that has brought him great suffering and persecution; nevertheless, He must speak of the Lord. He writes, “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I can not.” Genuine faithful preaching often leads to conflict, but it is the conviction of any believer to testify to the glories of God no matter the cost.

The preachers' job is to be a servant of the Word, even if that costs them their job, their health, their family, or their life. They have a simple but burdening task. They must tremble, but not from the fear of man or the consequences of bearing Christ’s message. they must tremble in reverence of serving Almighty God and speaking on His behalf. The ultimate goal of preaching should be to present every Christian complete in Christ and to urge those who are not in Him to cry out for mercy. Teaching the Word of God will always uncover error and disclose sin. It gives listeners the option to come into alignment with scripture in terms of the way they live, or to continue in disobedience. Those are the only choices.

Every teaching from God will undoubtedly lead us back to God.  The song of the life of pastoral ministers, and every Christian, is that which testifies to the glories of our Lord.  The true meaning of life is simply, to bring glory to God.  If there were any other meaning than this, our God would not be God. If there were something else apart from Him that brought fulfillment, He would not be God alone. Preaching is a call of service to read, explain, and apply His Word, solely for His glory.