PREACHING THE WORD

We are living in the last days when the Word of God is so despised and neglected. The church today is very ill and sickly, extremely malnourished and unhealthy. There is a falling away from the faith today as predicted in the Scriptures. The protestant churches all began well because of their good spiritual roots in the 16th century Reformation. But these protestant churches—Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Brethren, Presbyterian—are one by one departing from the faith today, even returning to the Roman Catholic fold. The many evidences of this are well known and documented. Thank God that “he left not himself without witness” for there are faithful remnants within these churches that continue to stand firm and hold fast to the truth.

Apostasy always begins when one starts to have a low view of God’s Word, when we no longer see the Holy Scriptures as divinely inspired and perfectly preserved, when we say that the Scriptures are no more totally infallible and inerrant, when we deny the Scriptures to be our sole, supreme and final authority of faith and practice. There are churches with constitutions that reflect these statements of faith, but in reality and in practice, they do not show they truly believe what they claim to believe. It is hypocrisy.

That is why the Apostle Paul charged each and every minister of the gospel in 2 Timothy 4:1-5, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”

Primacy of Preaching

There is an urgent need today to put the Bible back to its rightful place in the life and ministry of the church. The Word of God should be central in every church and that is why the pulpit ministry is so important. In the church, we place the pulpit right at the centre. Hymns that we sing must be full of Scripture. Our order of worship must be biblical. Sunday school is not play time for our children but a time for them to be taught fully and thoroughly God’s Word. There must be a constant study and exposition of the Scriptures in our fellowship meetings and activities.

So here, the Apostle Paul reminds Timothy and all of us concerning the primacy of biblical preaching in the life and ministry of the church. So what must we do with God’s Word—the infallible and inerrant Word which we have in our hands today? What are we going to do with this? Well, here Paul says preach—“Preach the word”! When you preach the Word, the power of the Word is released. Preach the Word! It is a command. The preaching ministry is something we must do. It is not an option. It is the main stay, the staple of church life and growth. It must be a regular feature of the church.

Power of Scripture

And what do we preach? We must preach the Word, ie the Holy Scriptures. The context in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us in no uncertain terms, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” It is only the Word of God that can make us perfect in Christ, and that is why the Scriptures must be central in the life and ministry of the church. That is also why Paul told Timothy to “Preach the word”. It is only the Word that can convict and convert sinners, not our eloquence, not our persuasiveness, not our intelligence. It is Scripture alone. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom 10:17). It is the preached Word of God and the Word faithfully preached that can change lives. And the Lord has promised that once His Word goes forth and goes out, it will not return unto Him void (Isa 55:11). “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb 4:12).

The Word of God is effective. It will accomplish what it has intended to do, whether we like it or not. Once the Word of God goes out, it will have its powerful effect either to save you or to condemn you. If you will be humble to receive it, the Word saves. But if you reject it and rebel against it, it destroys, and you are condemned in your sins. Either way, positive or negative, it will have its effect and will do its divine work. Let us make sure we receive the Word of God in the right manner, that we hear the preaching of God’s Word with the right mind and heart.

Preach Christ Not Self

It is important that we preach the Word and not ourselves. The Apostle Paul said, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Cor 4:5). We must preach Christ and Christ and nothing else but Christ. The preacher must always be mindful to hide behind the cross, behind His Lord and behind His Word. The preacher must always listen to himself that he is not preaching “I, me, myself”, but always pointing and directing people to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His Word. The preacher must ensure that people after they have heard the Word go away thinking and meditating on Christ and His Word—how they must love their God and their Saviour more, how they must know and study His Word much more, how they must repent of their sins and obey His Word.

Be Ever Ready

We need preachers to “be instant in season, out of season”. Be instant means be ready. In order to be ready, the preacher must equip himself fully and comprehensively with the Word of God. The preacher must be instant, be ready to preach and teach God’s Word in good times and in bad times, in times of freedom and in times of persecution, in times of poverty and in times of prosperity. The preacher must be ready 24 hours a day just like the fireman. He must always be ready to answer the call of duty. He must always be ready at a moment’s notice to rush to the scene and deliver God’s Word to those in need. The ministry of preaching is thus a vocation and not a profession. There is no time to waste, no time at all.

Elements of Preaching

So we must preach the Word, and be ever ready to “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine”. Yes we preach, and preaching consists of these elements: there is reproof, there is rebuke, there is exhortation. The word “reprove” speaks of teaching the truth and exposing error. Satan is ever ready to introduce heretical and seductive doctrines. That is why the preacher must correct and warn against that which is erroneous and harmful to our faith.

Not only must the preacher reprove, he must also rebuke. He must rebuke sin and sinners. The truthful and faithful preaching of God’s Word must offend. The preacher of God’s Word has to be offensive because he is preaching against sin and error. The preacher is not there to please man but God. The Apostle Paul said, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Gal 1:10).

And not only must the preacher reprove and rebuke, he must also exhort. Now, reproving and rebuking are the negative aspects of the preaching ministry. Exhorting, on the other hand, is positive. The word “exhort” here has to do with encouragement. The preaching must also be encouraging. The preaching when faithfully done can also comfort and heal, just like the surgeon who cuts, removes the bad part from the body and then stitches up the wound and applies the needed medication to soothe and to cure. So the preaching ministry must strike this biblical balance of negative and positive preaching.

Longsuffering and Doctrine

How do we go about doing this? We must go about this “with all longsuffering and doctrine”. Longsuffering has to do with patience—patience with people. Sometimes, the preaching ministry can be very trying and very frustrating. This is because when people do not respond rightly to the preaching of the Word, the preacher may get discouraged and frustrated. As such, the preacher has to cultivate the virtue of longsuffering. He needs to be patient with people. He needs to be sympathetic and compassionate. He needs to wait on the Lord to work in the lives of His people according to His own good time. So, when there are no immediate fruits or results, he must not give up but keep on preaching.

We must preach with all longsuffering and doctrine. Doctrine is not dry. When truthfully and faithfully preached, doctrine is very lively, exciting, powerful, effective. It stirs the heart, it stimulates the mind to want to know more and more about spiritual and eternal truths that are found in Christ and His Word. It will do that. But we must make sure it is sound doctrine, not personal opinions or human wisdom but divine revelation and Scripture.

Be Not Puppets and Parrots

Why must we do all these things? We must do all these things because the time will come, indeed has come, when people will no longer endure sound doctrine. Those who go to church go to church to have their ears tickled. They want to hear only what they want to hear: “When I am no good please tell me I am good. When I am sick, tell me I am well. When I am dirty, tell me I am clean. Tell me what I want to hear. Don’t tell me what I don’t want to hear.” They want preachers who are their puppets and parrots.

The puppet and parrot preachers are many today. They are not true shepherds of the flock but hirelings, “whose God is their belly, and whose religion is their kitchen”. “You pay me well, I’ll do what you say.” Such preachers and hearers would rather believe in a lie than in the truth. But the faithful preacher, what must he do? He must not give up doing that which is right. He must continue to preach the good news of Jesus Christ and the whole counsel of God. Only Jesus saves is good news, the Bible is 100% perfect without any mistake is good news, biblical separation is good news. The faithful preacher must be full of the Spirit and full of Scripture. We need more of such preachers today, who fear only God and not man. JK

 

“And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” (Rev 21:6)