THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
SPREADING THE SOUL-SAVING MESSAGE OF JESUs
“Preaching”
Introduction by narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Spreading the soul-saving message of Jesus. And now, Timothy Sparks and Ben Bailey.
“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). I’m Timothy Sparks.
Ben Bailey:
And I’m Ben Bailey. Welcome to our study of preaching as an act of worship. This lesson is being brought to you by individual members and congregations of the churches of Christ. We invite you to visit the church of Christ in your area, where you will be a welcome visitor and will find people who genuinely love God and His Word. We are making available each of these broadcasts on CD or DVD completely free of charge. If you would like a copy of this lesson or any of the other lessons we have in our broadcast series, you may log onto our website at www.thegospelofchrist.com, fill out the request form you will find there, and we will be happy to send to you whatever you need. We also have available on our website streaming video and audio of these lessons, as well as a Bible correspondence course. We would like to help you in your study of God’s Word in any way that we can.
Now, as we turn our attention from the definition of worship to the actions involved in worship, we see that one of those actions is preaching.
Timothy Sparks:
In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul gave this command: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” Preaching is a very important part of worship because, as Paul made clear in 1 Corinthians 1:21, it is through preaching that people are brought to belief, and thus to salvation. It is through the proclamation of the Gospel that God has chosen for people to be saved.
Ben Bailey:
According to Paul’s statement in Romans 1:16, the Gospel is “God’s power to save.” In James 1:21, we are told that we must “receive with meekness the implanted word which saves our souls.” Preaching is important because it provides a means by which people can hear God’s message, obey that message, and then form a relationship with God and Christ as a result of their obedience. Preaching is also a great privilege for those who have the ability to do it. Paul told Titus, “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine” (Tit. 2:1). Along with the responsibility of preaching comes the ability to reach the lost with the Gospel. There are at least three things associated with preaching that glorify God. First, the preacher must understand what his personal responsibility is. If we fail in that area, then we fail miserably. Second, the hearer must understand what his or her responsibility is to that which is being preached. All of us, very likely, could do better along these lines. The third attribute of God-glorifying preaching is when we proclaim His Word, not ours.
Timothy Sparks:
Peter wrote, “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Pet. 4:11). If a preacher is not going to speak the things of God as found within the Bible, then he must not speak at all. If the preacher cannot offer a “thus saith the Lord,” then he should not offer anything else in its place. We must have God’s authority behind whatever we do, as Paul pointed out when he said, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17). The phrase, “whatever you do in word,” refers to the things that we say. The preacher is God’s mouthpiece or spokesman. The message he presents must be from God. God told Jonah, “Preach the message that I tell you” (Jonah 3:1). We must preach only what God has commanded.
Ben Bailey:
The preacher plays an important part in worship, because if he does not get his part right, then it can affect adversely all those who hear him. This, no doubt, is one of the reasons that James wrote, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment” (Jas. 3:1). When one stands to teach others, there is a grave responsibility placed upon him. He must realize that he is speaking on behalf of God, and that what he says can affect people for all eternity. Jesus taught us in Matthew 12:35-37 that we must be careful about the things we say, and that our words should not be idle, but instead should have purposeful meaning. After all, it is by our words that we will be justified, and it is by our words that we will be condemned. The preacher must recognize how important his role his. He needs to remove himself from the picture and simply be a “filter” for God’s message to His people. There are several passages in the Bible which speak to the fact that the preacher is actually a mouthpiece for God. For example, in 2 Chronicles 18, Micaiah had been told to go to the king with a message. The king wanted him to say something nice and pleasing. But Micaiah boldly said, “As the Lord lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak” (vs. 13). That ought to be the attitude of every preacher today. As Peter said, we must speak as the oracles of God. If are not willing to do that, then we should remain silent.
Timothy Sparks:
God told Jeremiah, “I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant” (Jer. 1:10). How was Jeremiah to accomplish these things? He was to do it through preaching God’s message. Many years later, John the Immerser came preaching. His message was “the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” It was prophesied of him, “Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth,” and that he would “prepare the way of the Lord” (Lk. 3:4-5). The apostles John and Peter said, “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). We see in both the Old and New Testaments that proclaimers of God’s Word must have great boldness to do what God has commanded.
Ben Bailey:
Paul told Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). Most of us have at least some ability to be able to teach one other person. But God has given to some people the ability to preach His Word in a public fashion. If we are one of those people, we should not be bashful or shy. Rather, we should be bold, and we should preach God’s Word with power and joy. As preachers, we must remove ourselves from the picture and allow God’s Word to come through us in order to bring salvation to those who are lost and dying in sin. I heard of one preacher who, before he would get up to speak, asked God to help him be invisible so that people could see the cross of Christ. That is a concept contained in the Scriptures. We must not allow ourselves to get in the way, but instead we must faithfully proclaim Jesus and point people toward the cross. Preachers must be cautious not to present some sort of “social Gospel.” We are not supposed to be telling people who we think is the best political candidate. We are supposed to be presenting the soul-saving message of Christ.
Timothy Sparks:
Preachers generally have a limited amount of time in which to speak. They, therefore, must, to use the words of Paul, “redeem the time” (Eph. 5:16). If a preacher fills his sermon with, say, one passage of Scripture and a hundred illustrations—so that it does not contain the actual soul-saving message of the Gospel—then he is not carrying out the task that God gave him. Preachers need to combine both “speaking the truth” and “love” (Eph. 4:15). On occasion when a preacher speaks the truth, he may be viewed as pharisaical, unloving, unkind, uncaring, and judgmental. A preacher has no choice but to speak the truth as presented in God’s Word. Yet he must do it in love. All of our preaching should be done in love, because, as we learn from 1 Corinthians 13, anything we do that does not ultimately stem from love is for nought.
Ben Bailey:
Any message that is not based upon love for God and His Word (like, for example, constantly begging for people to send money), and that never gets around to preaching the Gospel message, is not a God-approved, biblically based message—and is not what God wants us, as preachers of the Gospel, to do. Jesus was the greatest preacher to ever walk the Earth. What made Him such an outstanding preacher? Why did He have such an amazing effect on the people to whom He spoke? One of the reasons was that the people knew just how much Jesus truly cared for them. In Mark 12:37, Jesus is paid a tremendous compliment when it says, “the common people heard Him gladly.” Why was this the case? These people knew Jesus. These were the people with whom He had been—day in and day out. He likely had healed them (or some of their friends and family members). This is a perfect illustration of “preaching the truth in love.” Doing that does not mean that we do not speak the truth. It does not mean that we will never offend someone. It does not mean that we will not rebuke when necessary. Above all, we preach what we do out of a love for people’s souls. Jesus was the Master at doing that.
Timothy Sparks:
We need to always ask the question in regard to our preaching, “Who are we trying to please?” Are we in the people-pleasing business, or are we in the God-glorifying business? Paul wrote, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). First and foremost we must glorify God. At times, as we preach the soul-saving truth of God’s Word, it may offend people. However, the preacher is not the originator of the message. Rather, he is the conveyor of the message. If people will believe and obey that message, it can save their souls. Jesus Himself said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:32). Even if no one else is willing to preach the truth, we must be willing to do so. Preachers must not try to “please everyone.” That is impossible. First and foremost, our job is to please God. If we end up pleasing no one else but God, at least we did what God told us to do. Paul asked, “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” (Gal. 4:16). That is a verse that ought to help every preacher of the Gospel. If he has preached the truth in a kind, loving manner and in sincerity, yet he makes enemies as a result, then he can ask the same question that Paul did, “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?”
Ben Bailey:
If someone were my real friend—although it might offend me, and although I might not want to hear it—they would point out my mistakes and say, “This is what you need to get right in your life. This is what God expects of you.” Ultimately, even if I never accept that, I know that at least they tried to help me. Jesus had His fair share of critics. They were angry because of what He taught them. But you can rest assured that every word Jesus said was intended to help them! I am reminded of Proverbs 27:5—“Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed.” If we say to someone, “I’m your friend,” but we never help them do what is right, that is not right. We must have the courage to know that even if the whole world turns against us, if we are pleasing to God then we are doing what is right.
Timothy Sparks:
There is an old saying, “Truth is offensive only to those who never intend to obey it.” I would rather be the kind of person who would have the courage to tell a person the truth, even if it offended him, in the hope that he would recognize the truth, repent, and ultimately see the salvation of his soul. The alternative is that I not tell the person the truth, have that person remain my friend, but end up being lost and miss getting to go to Heaven. First and foremost, we must preach the truth. And we cannot do it in a caustic or judgmental fashion. Rather, we must “preach the truth in love” because what we say is motivated by our love for God. As Paul put it, “the love of Christ compels us” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). Jude wrote, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 21). Jude went on to say, “Save some through fear, snatching them out of the fire” (vs. 23). Sometimes our love for lost souls will motivate us to be firm in our manner of preaching. But we must never lose our love for those to whom we speak.
Ben Bailey:
Sometimes, preaching goes well from the preacher’s part, but it does not go well from the hearer’s part. Thus, while the preacher must understand the importance of his part in the action of preaching, the hearers likewise must understand their part in this action as well. Preaching is not a “one-man” event. It is not something you view. It is not something you watch someone do. Preaching is a collective action. The hearer must understand. His (or her) responsibility is to hear properly. In Mark 4:24, we are told “Take heed what you hear.” In Luke 8:18, we are told to take heed how we hear. We need to be careful that we are hearing the right thing, and we need to be care about how we hear it. We also need to be careful that we hear the right speaker. In Mark 9:7, God said, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” Jesus said over and over again to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, “He that has ears to hear, let him hear” (Rev. 2:3). With the idea in mind that almost everyone has ears, His point was, “You need to sit up, pay attention, listen to the message, and obey it!” One of the things that we as hearers need to understand is how to hear. We should not simply sit there in the pew and let the speaker’s words pass in one ear and out the other. We need to hear in order to heed!
Timothy Sparks:
My responsibility as a hearer is to listen diligently, and to compare what I hear with the Word of God—just as the Bereans did. In Acts 17:11 we read, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” We as listeners are not to take the preacher’s word as Gospel; rather, we are to take God’s Word as Gospel. A faithful proclaimer of God’s Word will encourage his listeners to compare what he says to the Word of God. One of the responsibilities of a listener is to listen as if he or she is being taught by God. We must not desire that the preacher teach us. We must desire that God teach us through the preacher. In the end, I will not be able to hold the preacher responsible for whether or not I hear the truth. While the preacher has an obligation to teach the truth, I have an obligation to listen and to compare what is said with God’s Word to ensure that what I come to believe is indeed true and right. Peter said, “Be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Pet. 3:15). I must listen and be receptive to the Word of God so that I might be able to give a defense (or answer) to others in order to help them come to knowledge of the truth and be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). According to 2 Peter 3:18, we, as listeners, must come to the Scriptures with a desire to grow. There, we are commanded to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Jesus Himself said, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mt. 5:48).
Ben Bailey:
The preacher’s responsibility is to teach. The listener’s responsibility is to be teachable. In Luke 11:1, Jesus’ disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” That attitude—“teach us!”—needs to be our attitude as listeners. We need to be people who are willing to be taught what God says in the Bible. We must be willing to listen, to learn, and to grow. Whenever someone stands before me to proclaim God’s Word, it is not that person who is speaking to me. Rather, it is God Who is speaking to me! We need to have the attitude of Samuel when he said, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears” (1 Sam. 3:9). We need to be willing to hear what the Lord says to us, and then we need to be willing to do it. We as listeners have a responsibility to respond in some form or fashion to every sermon we hear. Isaiah 55:11 promises that God’s Word will not return to Him void. It will serve the purpose for which it is intended. Every sermon we hear ought to encourage us to do something—such as to carry out more evangelism, to have more joy in our lives, to be more faithful as we live the Christian life, or to repent of sin in our lives. Sermons should challenge us to be better—better husbands, better fathers, better in our prayer life, or better students of God’s Word. Or, sermons should serve to warn us about certain things, such as specific sins that we need to avoid. So, yes, while the preacher has a responsibility to teach, we as listeners have the responsibility to hear, to be teachable, and to respond to what we hear.
Timothy Sparks:
Paul wrote, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph. 4:23). In Romans 12:2, he said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” It is God’s Word that does the transforming in our lives, and it is God’s Word that will help conform us into the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). God’s Word can transform our hearts and minds from within so that we become like Him. Preaching has the capability of having a profound impact on people. What we do with the Word of God is going to determine where we end up for eternity. Each of us must know what we are to be hearing, what we are to be believing, and what we are to be teaching to others.
Ben Bailey:
There are certain things that we, as hearers, can do to help us make the most of every sermon we hear.
1. Do not come to hear a message preached without having your Bible with you. In Nehemiah 4:17, we see how the people were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, yet they had their sword in their hands. Ephesians 6:17 says that the sword of the spirit is the Word of God. If you want to make the most out of a sermon, bring your Bible. Open it. Read it. Use it. Follow the preacher in whatever points he is making.
2. Search the Scriptures to ensure that what you are being taught is true to the will of God. Look and see if what you are being told is what the Bible says that God wants you to do.
Timothy Sparks:
3. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Mt. 7:21). As we consider our responsibility, we must recognize that we must do what the Lord has commanded us to do. Furthermore, if what you are hearing where you worship is not true to the Word of God, then it is not only not helpful, but actually is hindering your spiritual growth. Hearers have a right to demand that what they hear is the Word of God. We must be good students of God’s Word. We must not go just by what the preacher says, by what others say, or by what other religions teach. Rather, we must come to the Word of God ourselves to study the truth because that is an obligation that is incumbent upon each of us. We are to hear the truth of God’s Word, accept it, believe it, and obey it.
Thank you for joining us for this study on worship. As always, our lessons are brought to you by individual members and congregations of the churches of Christ. We encourage you to visit the church of Christ in your area. We are making copies of these lessons available in both CD and DVD formats. If you would like a complimentary copy, log onto our website at www.thegospelofchrist.com, fill out the request form you will find there, and we will be happy to send to you whatever you need. We invite you to continue to study with us, and to conform your will to the Gospel of Christ.
Narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST is brought to you by loving, caring members of the church of Christ. The McLish Avenue church of Christ in Ardmore, Oklahoma, oversees this evangelistic effort. For a free CD or DVD of today’s broadcast, please write to:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
607 McLish Ave.
Ardmore, OK 73401
You may call 580-223-3289. Please visit us on the web at www.thegospelofchrist.com. We encourage you to attend the church of Christ, where “the Bible is loved and the Gospel is preached.”
1. What was Paul’s point when he said, “It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe”?
2. According to 2 Timothy 4:2, is preaching a command or an option?
3. What did Paul mean when he told Timothy, “Be ready in season and out of season”?
4. According to Romans 1:16, what is the Gospel?
5. What, according to James 1:21, can “the implanted word” do for us after we have heard it preached and have obeyed it?
6. What point were Peter and John making when they said, “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20)?
7. According to 2 Timothy 1:7, what must proclaimers of God’s Word not possess?
8.vWhat did Paul tell Timothy in Titus 2:1 that preachers should preach?
9. What did Peter mean when he wrote, “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Pet. 4:11)?
10. What is the point for preachers today that can be found in the account of Micaiah in 2 Chronicles 18 when the prophet said, “As the Lord lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak.”
11. According to Ephesians 4:15, how and what are preachers to preach?
12. What did God tell Jonah to preach (Jonah 3:1)?
13. What point was Paul making in Galatians 1:10 when he asked, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men?”
14. How does Paul’s question in Galatians 4:16 (“Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?”) affect those who hear the Gospel preached?
15. According to Luke 11:1, what should our attitude be as we hear the Word of God being preached?
16. What promise did Isaiah make in Isaiah 55:11 on God’s behalf?
17. Explain the connection between Mark 4:24 and Luke 8:18.
18. What attitude did Samuel portray that we, too, would do well to portray (1 Sam. 3:9)?
19. What, according to Acts 17:11, should we as listeners do when he hear preaching or teaching?
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, 607 McLish Ave., Ardmore, OK 73401; (580) 223-3289; www.thegospelofchrist.com