The end of preaching
Introduction
It’s Saturday night and the sermon script
is long-written and rehearsed. Now is the time for prayer. What does the
preacher beg the Lord to bring from his preaching? Paramount among his prayers
will be that God glorify himself (1 Cor 10:31) as his great deeds are
recounted, as unbelievers are called to repentance and faith and as believers are
called to the good works which constitute a life worthy of the gospel (Eph
2:10; Phil 1:27).
What is the end, or goal, or preaching? The
purpose of this article is to examine one text of Scripture where the Lord
himself defines the profitable uses of Scripture and to apply this to the
ministry of preaching.
Why examine this question? For one thing,
it contributes to a Biblical understanding of the nature of preaching,
especially in relationship to other word ministries such as personal
evangelism, teaching, Biblical counselling and Bible study. Further, a clearer
grasp of why we preach should sharpen the preacher’s sword (Eph 6:17b; Heb
4:12-13) and better enable the word of the Lord to return to him having
accomplished the purposes for which he gave it (Is 55:11).
Why examine this question from the
Scriptures? Because preaching is a God-appointed task. The matter and manner of
preaching should be determined from God speaking in Scripture and, likewise,
the purposes of preaching should also come from Scripture.
The
text - 2 Tim 3:15-17
2 Tim 3:15-17 is a much-frequented text for
its word on the nature of Scripture
as the all-inspired written Word. However, there is more to the text than this
important teaching, for the text is also rich in comment on the uses of Scripture.
Consider the text:
But as for you, continue in what you have
learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you
learned it 15 and how from childhood you have
been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All
Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that
the man of God may be complete, equipped for every
good work. (2 Tim 3:14-17, ESV)
The text first gives a reminder that
Scripture can and should be taught from childhood and should continue to be
taught and believed into adulthood (vv14-15a). This is a rebuke to those who
would assert that only those who have left childish ways behind are able to
receive, understand and believe God’s word.
That nature of all Scripture is defined as
God-breathed, or inspired. Just as a person’s breath comes from within and is a
deep expression of whom they are, so it is with the words of Scripture. The
words of Scripture are breathed through the writers whom God carried along by
his Spirit and with each writer having his distinctive marks (2 Pet 1:21).
However, the Biblical words are firstly, fully and finally God’s words, not
those of the human writers. This gives the Bible, and preaching built on it,
authority and it gives the preacher confidence in his task.
Our interest is in the ends for which
Scripture is profitable or useful.
The
uses of Scripture
Three distinct purposes, within one
overriding goal, can be identified for Scripture from 2 Tim 3:15-17.
Firstly, Scripture is useful to
convey wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (v15b).
More than one unbeliever has been brought
to faith through reading the Bible and hearing it preached faithfully (eg Acts
8:26-38). This is because the whole Bible speaks of humanity’s need of a
saviour and God’s generous provision of him in the Lord Jesus (eg Lke 24:27,
44-47). The preacher need not preach a specifically evangelistic sermon for
sinners to come under conviction and come into repentance and faith. God in his
providence can and does use any part of his word to convict and convert. And
indeed it is worth remembering that 2 Tim 3:16 is talking most immediately
about the Old Testament as the source of saving wisdom in Jesus. The whole
Bible can draw conversions.
This is the first and foundational use of
the Bible and purpose for any word ministry. Unless and until a person has wisdom
for salvation through faith in Jesus, the Bible’s other intended uses will not
profit. What point is there to knowledge of sound doctrine without a saving
knowledge of Jesus? What futility is there in trying the live a righteous life
unless having first come to that righteousness that God provides through grace
to the one believing in his Son?
Good preaching will thus always have a
gospel element. Unbelievers may be present in the regular service (and
hopefully are). Believers need reminders of their need of a saviour and the
Lord’s provision that they may continue to rest on him for salvation and to be
motivated by gratitude to the life of following Jesus. Indeed, it can be said
that no Scripture has been well preached unless in some way it points to God’s
salvation through Jesus. This is the first, and perhaps the greatest use of
Scripture.
Secondly,
Scripture is useful to teach sound doctrine and to correct falsehood (v16b).
In the Great Commission Jesus commands that
disciples are made from all nations (evangelism) and are then taught to obey
all that he had taught (Matt 28:19-20). This relates to the second and third
uses of Scripture identified in 2 Tim 3:16-17.
Left to themselves, the new convert is
clueless of what to believe about God, for the natural man cannot understand
the things of God (1 Cor 2:14). The things of God must be revealed and that
revelation is found in Scripture. Even the longstanding believer is apt to have
incomplete and false ideas about God. Put simply: we all need to be taught
truth about God and have wrong ideas addressed.
Truth alone will never make a mature
Christian, but we cannot be mature Christians without truth. And so there is a
need to move on from the spiritual milk of infancy to solid food (1 Pet 2:1;
Heb 5:11 – 6:1). This is the whole counsel of God that immunises God’s people against
the wolves who would destroy the flock and which builds up the saints into that
likeness to Christ, which is the mark of spiritual adulthood (Acts 20:26-29,
Eph 4:11-16).
Despite the impatience of our times for
doctrine, preachers should not be afraid to teach truths about God which are to
be known and believed. As noted below, right teaching is the indispensible
foundation of right belief and right behaviour.
Thirdly,
Scripture is useful to rebuke wrong behaviour and to train in right behaviour
(v16b).
As the fruits of the fall abound and public
standards of behaviour became less godly, it is vital to use the Bible to
address godly behaviour both in the positive sense of training in right and
actions and in exposing and warning against wrong actions (Eph 4:17-32).
Godly behaviour is unnatural to the convert
and needs training. Likewise with the eradication of the bad habits of an
unbelieving past. Today’s new convert in the west is likely to have come from a
godless background and to have dabbled in alternate spiritualities, various
sexual relationships and possibly drug use. New converts from traditional
cultures have been reared in the behaviours of those cultures that will include
ungodliness. Such converts may be clueless about godly living, just like Paul’s
converts from Gentile society.
The long-standing Christian also needs
training in right behaviour. Emerging ethical issues and changing life stages
throw up new issues that need Biblical direction. For example, consider the
childless couple offered methods of artificial conception that take them to the
boundaries of their marriage relationship. Further, the gravity of the old man
will keep pulling even the mature Christian to lower standards of behaviour
with the deceptive logic that even if I lower my standards I am still better
than my godless neighbour.
Good preaching on the Bible will not be
content with just teaching truth to the head, but will apply it to the life in
specific, contemporary behavioural comments that address the actual issues in
the lives of the hearers rather than someone else’s issues or the issues of
another day.
The
overriding goal of all these uses is full readiness for every good work (v17).
We are called to love God with all our
heart, soul and might through the teaching and learning of his word (Dt 6:1-9).
Another way of expressing this is to say that Scripture is addressed to the
whole person as follows:
·
The heart is addressed with wisdom for salvation through faith in
Jesus, which is orthocardia or right belief;
·
The head is addressed by correcting false beliefs and teaching sound
doctrine, which is orthodoxy or right doctrine;
·
The hands are addressed by the rebuke of wrong behaviour and training
in right behaviour, which is orthopraxis or right action.
When head, heart and hands are all aligned
under the word of God, the whole person is brought to complete readiness in
God-glorifying and God-serving humanity.
All of this is in view in Eph 4:11-16 where
the process of Christian maturity is in view. Such maturity arises from the
gifts of the ascending Christ who gave apostles, prophets, evangelists and
pastor-teachers to enable the work of ministry that promotes Christ-likeness.
It is notable that all four of the listed offices are word ministries. The apostles were given to prayer and the
ministry of the word (Acts 6:4). New Testament prophecy is a debateable topic, but is best understand as a word
ministry especially focussed on the individual and group application of the
word. Evangelists have a ministry of
declaring the word of gospel salvation. Pastor-teachers
are those entrusted wit the regular teaching and application of the word to
a settle congregation. The point is clear from both 2 Tim 3:15-17 and Eph
4:11-16: it is balanced and purposeful ministries of the word that promote
Christian maturity.
The
use of the uses
Preaching
and other word ministries
There is a sense in which all word ministries
have all of the above purposes in mind, for the text itself does not confine
these uses just to preaching. However, there will be differences of emphasis in
different word ministries.
·
The evangelist is especially concerned with using the Bible to the end
of saving faith.
·
The teacher is especially concerned to use the Bible to teach sound
doctrine and correct false doctrine.
·
The Bible study leader is especially interested in making and reinforcing
life-applications to behaviour.
·
The counsellor is especially concerned to see changes in
heart-attitudes and in behaviours.
The work of the preacher embraces all of these concerns. He wants to change to
change the head and heart in order to change the life. He wants to inform the
head in order to transform heart and life. Of all the word ministries, the
preacher cannot pick and choose among the various use of the word as he
declares the whole counsel of God. Of course, depending on the text, the
hearers and the context, a preacher may accommodate the sermon to a different
balance of emphases among the use, but none will ever disappear entirely from view.
This simultaneous focus on all the listed uses of Scripture is but one
distinctive of preaching among the word ministries,
The
end of preaching
Let’s go back to our imaginary preacher
whom we left with his Saturday prayers. Imagine that it is now earlier in the
week. He has chosen what portion of Scripture to preach on and has engaged in
prayerful, God-dependent, Spirit-guided and disciplined study of his text to
divide the word rightly. A clear Scripturally-formed sense of purpose in preaching
can be used to guide the sermon preparation process as 2 Tim 3:15-17 becomes a checklist:
·
Which of these uses, and in
what form and balance, do the text and occasion most lend themselves to?
·
How can the chosen purposes be
woven into the sermon structure, such that main points, sub points,
illustrations and application are sharpened like an arrow into a sermon with no
wasted words or blunt edges?
·
When the draft script is
culled, what material is surplus to purpose and can be reduced or removed?
·
How can hearers be challenged
to ask what they should know, believe and do in response to the word?
And finally, come Saturday night the
preacher knows to what end the prayers for his own preaching can be directed.
Published in Banner of Truth Magazine, January 2015.
