Preach How The Bible Speaks

Whenever we preach about the dynamics of the heart, workings of sin, or how someone struggles, we should never a particular person in the congregation as an example. The pulpit should not take our private counseling sessions and displaying them to the world.

But (as one of my seminary professors once told his congregation) there will be times when people will think that’s what a preacher does. As I was talking with someone from out of town who listened to one of the sermons a few weeks ago, they said (and I got their permission to say this), “It was like you were reading me.”

God’s word does exactly that—He reads us when we read His word.

Because of our common humanity and dynamics of sin, what one person is going through is often what many are going through. The Bible reads, searches, and exposes us—this comforts and angers people. Because the Bible does this, God commands preachers to preach in such a way that the people know that the Bible is reading them. This makes people thank the preacher for exposing their sin and applying God’s grace to their heart, but it also produces some to criticize the preacher.

While it's true that a preacher can sinfully misuse a sermon to “get at someone” from the pulpit—Lord forbid that this ever happens—the preacher is commanded by God to preach His word with authority. He is commanded by God, and on behalf of God, to call people to believe every part of Bible. The preacher is commanded preach in such a way that takes the text and searches the people’s hearts (where their sin is, when their theology is wrong, what underlying issues really are, how they fail to trust Christ alone). This is exactly what 2 Timothy 3:16-4:2 says,

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

The preacher is not calling people out, but God is calling them out. The preacher is merely the ambassador (2 Cor. 5:20). He is an “errand boy” who only does what God wants him to do. But this is difficult work. Biblical preaching is not always accepted; it is often despised.

I have witnessed this over 14 years of preaching. But I have also noticed this with faithful preachers today and throughout church history. Every faithful preacher experiences this and it is why people killed the prophets of Old Testament, preachers of New Testament, and throughout church history. It still happens today.

Nevertheless, preachers must be faithful. They must confess to God and repent of anything unnecessary in their sermons. They are not in the pulpit to grind an axe, subtweet their people, or rally the troops to be on “their side”. They are sent to proclaim that text to all people in their midst—even if conversations happened with some individuals that very week about that particular truth. They are to proclaim Law and Gospel, sin and grace, repentance and forgiveness.

Yes, we must be wise. Let’s not use a cannon to shoot a mosquito. Don’t bring a hammer to heart surgery. Don’t go fishing with a nuclear bomb. You need to know the text and your people. A heavy text might be coming to the people in a season of much spiritual depression. A comforting text might be coming to the people in a season of much backsliding. We are called to be faithful to God’s word and to preach wisely to the people in front of us.

To do this best, we must do what the text is doing. Preaching—every congregant needs to understand this—is not merely relaying information. The preacher doesn’t only give the information of the text. The text is meant to do to the people what the text is communicating.1

Genesis 1 and the doctrine of creation is not only relaying information, but it is also a polemic against the surrounding religions of Moses’ day.2 John 3:16 is not a dry doctrinal statement about the love of God—it is light in the darkness (night time was the setting of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus) to a heart that was filled with self-righteousness. Revelation 21-22 is not some hypothetical “pie in the sky” thinking—it is for those who are persecuted, longing for hope, and seeking to remain faithful to Christ in a world that hates Him. When preachers preach a text, they aren’t merely called to explain the content or give the original context; they are called to preach in such a way that the message and the mood of the text (i.e. the truth and the tone) are communicated to those people.3

The Bible “reaches out and grabs us”. We need to experience this in preaching—even if it searches us out and exposes our sin. But the goal of a sermon is not simply to expose sin. We expose sin to apply the grace of God! The Father, through the preaching of His word by the power of His Holy Spirit, holds out His Son to us and says, “Yes, He is a Savior for a sinner like you!”

Preaching is not easy. In an era of misuse of authority (but far more of falsely accusing the right use of authority as a “bully pulpit” or “spiritual abuse”), preaching is a dangerous game. Ever since The Fall, sinners have hated the authority of God. And nothing proclaims the authority of God like faithful preaching does. But the greatest need of the world today is the unashamed preaching of the good news of God’s infinite grace for wicked sinners.

Preacher, give me Jesus! Give Him to my heart! I need to know my sin and how Christ has atoned for my sin. I need to be motivated and empower by the Holy Spirit to confess, believe, repent, and pursue holiness. But in order to do that, you must confront me with the text.

Churches, you must pray for your preachers (Eph. 6:18-19). You must support them in their work (Gal. 6:6). You must submit to them when they are faithful (Heb. 13:7, 17). You must regard faithful preachers as ministering in the authority of Christ rather than their own (2 Cor. 5:20).

Preachers, you must be faithful to God’s way of preaching (2 Tim. 3:16-4:2). You must love your people and shepherd them like Christ (1 Pet. 5:1-5). You must speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). You must wield Christ’s authority, not your own (1 Cor. 4:1).