The Purpose of Preaching Pt 3: God Is Here

What you believe about the Word of God determines what you believe about preaching. If your view of the Bible is relatively low then your view of preaching will be low. But, if you believe the Bible to be the very Word of the living God (2 Timothy 3:16), then you will value the act of preaching and prioritize its time.

Too often, preaching is determined as poor due to the perceived lack of ability or engagement of the preacher. To be sure, the preacher must be “able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2) which means he must be able to not only understand the Word of God but to express it in a clear and compelling way. But more often than not, the complaint about preaching stems not from a man’s poor ability, but from a low view of what is happening in the moment of preaching, namely that God is being revealed through his precious Word.

In other words, a preacher’s lack of charisma or oratory ability may need improvement, but it is rarely the issue causing people to disregard preaching. Instead, people grow bored with preaching because they forget or ignore the fact that the Bible is being opened and they are having God revealed to them in front of their very eyes. Again, it is all connected to your view of the Bible.

What is the goal of the Bible? It teaches moral lessons, it comforts and guides, it even corrects, instructs, rebukes, and trains (2 Timothy 3:17). But those are by-products of the Bible’s main goal. The ultimate purpose of the Bible is to reveal God. As we learn of morality, human sin, the offer of salvation, the blessing of comfort and peace we do so only in relation to the God who grants those things. Every benefit of the Bible tells us something grand about God. Everything that it says is meant to drive us toward a rich and vibrant relationship with him.

Therefore, in a very real sense, when the Bible is being preached God is being revealed to us. This isn’t new revelation, but it is unique. On one hand, we may all read the Bible and learn of God in our own personal lives. In fact, we should be doing that since we have the blessing of having God’s Word in our own language. But the act of preaching is wholly different from private, personal Bible study. Preaching is God’s ordained means of instructing, leading, and building up his church.

How can we say that? First, the general tenor of preaching in the New Testament is one of priority and importance. Over and over again, the act of preaching Jesus Christ is held up as the central and significant mechanism through which the gospel goes forth (see Romans 10). Furthermore, preaching isn’t just celebrated and recounted in the New Testament, it is also command of the workers of God. They must preach in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:1-5) and they must rightly handle the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15).

Additionally, we must hold preaching in a specific place of priority as a unique moment of God’s working because of our understanding of the church. The church is the keeper of the keys of heaven (Matthew 16:18-19). The church bears the authority to interpret and uphold the truth of God’s Word as its pillar and buttress (1 Timothy 3:15). This means that the church has the responsibility to hold each individual accountable. How does this come to bear in preaching? As the whole church sits under the clear preaching of God’s Word they are being trained to be students of God’s Word. Not just students, they are also being trained to walk with God and to love him above all else. When this happens through the act of preaching then the whole church is able to hold one another accountable to the clearly interpreted truths of Scripture.

Furthermore, they can say with the gentiles, “We wish to see Jesus,” (John 12:21) and thereby demand that the pulpit be reserved for the Word of God. It is in such acts, the clear communal teaching and the demand to hear only the Bible, that allows a church to exercise her authority to hold and propagate the truth, and thus hold others accountable. This happens in the act of preaching, not because the preacher has any authority to direct the church, but that the church expects the preacher to give to them the only thing that does bear authority, the Word of God. As it is interpreted and applied by the congregation, and spoken by the preacher, it bears the authority and power to reveal the truth about God, holding each person accountable to its teaching.

This is why the apostles put such importance on the act itself. They said it was not good for them to give up the ministry of the Word to serve tables (Acts 6). Instead, they must devote themselves to the Word as much as they are able. It is also why Paul condensed his ministry down to this one point: being sent not to baptize but to preach (1 Corinthians 1:17).

Finally, the preaching event is a unique moment of God’s working because practically, it is the one time when a whole body of believers sits under the instruction of the Bible together. In that setting God uniquely leads his body with one voice and in one direction. In the context of the assembled congregation, the Head of the Church leads, corrects, guides, instructs, and reveals the beauty of God Almighty. Only in the shared setting of preaching does the Word of God guide the whole body at once.

For these reasons and more, we can say that the preaching of God’s Word is central to the life of the church. This is not because the preacher is central to the church, but because through the act of true preaching, God uniquely and specially reveals himself to the church. This is how he works within us as a congregation and we would all be better off if we listened to such preaching with this in our hearts. If this is lost on us as listeners, or if preaching has become a boring, routine event, the issue usually lies in our poor understanding of what is happening when a man stands behind a pulpit and says, “Thus sayeth the Lord.”