In one, we define the predication as follows:
“Preaching is the communication in the form of oral discourse of a message drawn from the Holy Scriptures through careful exegesis, delivered with authority, conviction, boldness, passion, urgency, and compassion, through the entire personality of a man called and qualified by God, under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit, in order to meet the needs of an audience.”
Ministers as Heralds
Today we will talk about the first part of this definition: “a message extracted from the Holy Scriptures through careful exegesis.” Above all things, to preach is to faithfully expound a message that has been extracted from the Scriptures. That is evident from the very nature of the ministry to which God has called us.
Ministers are heralds of God, and the function of a herald is not to achieve notoriety or popularity. Nor has he been called upon to be original or to give his personal opinion on an issue. His king has put a message in his mouth, and he must proclaim it as entrusted to him, regardless of the reaction that message may provoke in those who hear it.
That is why in the ancient world two things were required of the herald. The first was to have a good voice. The second was a trustworthy character. His ruler had to be certain that he would faithfully convey the message entrusted to him (1 Cor 4:1-2). What is required of administrators is not that they be found popular or original, but faithful. Deviating from the message entrusted to them was taken as infidelity (2 Tim 3:14 – 4:2; cf. 2 Tim 1:13 and 2:15).
Preaching is a message from God, not from man.
The minister of the gospel must be sure that he is indeed delivering the message of the Bible, not because he quotes a text here and there that seems to support his ideas, but because through diligent study and careful exegesis, this man has unraveled the true meaning of the biblical passage (or passages) that he is expounding. Peter says, “If anyone speaks, let him speak according to the words of God” (1 Peter 4:11). If your gift is to preach, make sure that what you are transmitting is what God says in his Word. Your sermon must be drawn from the text and all preaching must be saturated with Scripture.
That is why preaching has been defined as “the proclamation, explanation, and application of the Word of God.” You can quote Scripture and not proclaim Scripture. Many use the Bible as a springboard, quoting a text and immediately jumping to give their personal opinions, or supporting their opinions in some Bible texts that are usually quoted out of context, and that obviously do not mean that.
He who limits himself to expressing his own opinions is seeking his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of God will worry about proclaiming the opinions of God
For this reason, before placing ourselves behind the pulpit we must be sure, to the extent that such a thing is possible for us, that we have understood what the Holy Spirit revealed in the passage or passages that we are going to expose. We must make sure that the message we are going to deliver is the will of God, as it has been revealed in the Holy Scriptures.
Of Christ it is said: “For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God” (Jn 3:34). And the Lord says of Himself: «My doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me. Whoever wants to do the will of God, he will know if the doctrine is from God, or if I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own account seeks his own glory »(Jn 7: 16-18). One who limits himself to expressing his own opinions is seeking his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of God will worry about proclaiming God’s opinions.
«Many things I have to say and judge of you; but the one who sent me is true; and what I have heard from him, this I speak to the world” (Jn 8:26-27). What the Lord Jesus Christ taught and preached was nothing other than the mind of the Father. «Because I have not spoken on my own account; the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment of what I have to say, and what I have to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. Therefore, what I speak, I speak as the Father has told me” (Jn 12:49-50).
If our Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, took care to say what he had heard from the Father, how much more so do we! When we stand behind the pulpit or assume the position of teachers of the Word in any other context, we must be able to say exactly the same thing: “I am not speaking on my own, I am teaching what I learned from God by searching his Word” . The man who goes up to a pulpit to share his own ideas, to talk about politics, the latest psychological techniques for a full and happy life, to entertain people with light talk, and to manipulate them with a few sad stories, is completely out of place, and what is even worse, he exposes himself to the judgment of God for his infidelity.
The weakness of the church in our generation is largely due to the weakness of its pulpits.
If there is something that the church of our generation urgently needs, it is preachers who dedicate themselves body and soul to interpreting, explaining and applying the Holy Scriptures. The weakness of the church in our generation is largely due to the weakness of its pulpits.
Walter Kaiser says the following about it:
“It is no secret that the church of Christ is completely lacking in good health in many parts of the world. They have been languishing because they have been fed, as we would say in contemporary terms, with ‘junk food’; they have been served all kinds of unnatural substitutes and artificial preservatives that do not really feed. As a result, theological and biblical malnutrition has afflicted the very generation that took leaps and bounds to ensure that their physical health was not impaired by the consumption of foods or products that were carcinogenic or otherwise harmful to their physical bodies. Simultaneously, a spiritual famine on a global scale that has come as a result of the absence of a genuine publication of the Word of God… continues its indiscriminate and almost indomitable advance in much of the domain of the church” (Walter Kaiser; cit. by MacArthur, Titus, pp. 28-29).
Oh, may God raise up faithful men to fill the pulpits of many churches, occupied today by usurpers! We must ask the Lord of the harvest to send good workers to his harvest.
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© By Sugel Michelen. All thought captive. You can reproduce and distribute this material, as long as it is not for profit, without altering its content and acknowledging its author and origin.