(This was originally published as an article in our church magazine "The Grapevine")
Don’t be put off by the title, this article is not just relevant to
those who enter the pulpit, it’s a challenge to every Christian.
I read a blog post a few years ago by a pastor called Thabiti Anyabwile
that included the quote below. His post was mainly a challenge to preachers,
but I thought it would be worth expanding a little.
Throughout church history there have been many challenges from outside
and from within. That is no different today.
There are lots of old confessions of faith, creeds, and doctrinal
statements designed to define and defend the true Biblical doctrine. One such
series of statements is the Second Helvetic Confession and it states the
following:
“THE PREACHING OF THE
WORD OF GOD IS THE WORD OF GOD. Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached
in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of
God is proclaimed, and received by the faithful; and that neither any other
Word of God is to be invented nor is to be expected from heaven: and that now
the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that
preaches; for even if he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God
remains still true and good.”
Let me explain what I think this means for two groups of people:
1. Preachers, do we really believe this as we
prepare and stand up to speak?
2. Christians, do we really expect this when we go
to church on a Sunday?
Let’s deal
with preachers first.
If preachers
really believed this, that in preaching they are transmitting the word of God,
they would do one of two things. They would either give up preaching because
they would know they were not gifted to take on such a weighty task. Or, they
would constantly seek to improve their ability by listening to others preach and
reading books about preaching, because they want to honour God’s word as highly
as possible.
I say this to
myself as much as to anyone else; a preacher should feel the awesome
responsibility as he prepares his sermon. He should feel that weight as he
steps into the pulpit to speak to God’s people gathered in front of him.
The task of
preaching is not to be taken lightly. The task of preaching is a wonderful
privilege. It is through the preaching of the word of God that God changes
lives by the Holy Spirit.
The
temptation for the preacher is to just get a sermon prepared. Once he has his
preparation method or routine, it is very easy to go through the motions to
produce a sermon.
But, if the
preaching of the word of God, is the word of God, then it needs to have gripped
the heart of the preacher first, not just be the product of his study and
writing ability.
What about
the average Christian in the congregation?
As well as
the great responsibility that the preacher has, each Christian must ask
themselves if they believe this statement to be true.
If they do,
then they will prepare their own hearts to hear the word of God preached
whenever that opportunity arises, because they know that they are about to hear
a life-changing message.
That might
mean they pray for God to enable them to be sensitive to what is the Spirit
will lay upon their heart. It might mean asking God to help them be ready to
change, even if that change is going to difficult. It might mean repenting of
sin. It might be approaching a brother or sister and asking for forgiveness.
The Christian
who believes that they are hearing the very word of God when a preacher begins
his message must be expectant that God will speak to them right there and then.
They will expect to be encouraged, challenged, taught, rebuked, corrected, cut
to the heart and changed in the most profound ways.
But they will
also expect that this will not be done in isolation, God will speak to all who
are present and therefore, there will be others to pray with, share with,
delight with, cry with, repent with and speak with as the Spirit takes the word
and applies it.
The
temptation for the average church member is to go through the motions, or to be
focused on the tasks they have to do or the people they feel they need to speak
to that morning. Or maybe just think that church is activity, something to be
done like the shopping or watching a tv series.
A Christian
should never view church as mundane or comfortable because the word of God will
be spoken there, and it is anything but those things.
And just in
case there was any doubt let me close by saying this; this is why preaching of
the word of God must be central in churches, because it communicates the very
word of God.
