“If someone aspires to the episcopate, is it a great job? (1 tm 3. 1)
The key word in this verse is “work”. Pastoral ministry is a difficult job, Paul compared the life of the pastor to that of the soldier and the farmer, did he encourage young Timothy to participate in suffering?In the ministry (2 Tim 2,3,6).
- At the heart of this hard work is the holy task of preaching.
- D.
- Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that “the most urgent need of the Christian church is true preaching.
- “His predecessor.
- G.
- Campbell Morgan.
- Also had the same opinion on preaching.
- When he called it “the supreme work of the Christian minister.
- “.
In the introduction of his classic book on Homilytics, Treaty on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, John Broadus argues that “preaching is the great means designed to spread the good news of salvation for Christ. “A pastor is expected to be a Counselor to those who need counsel, encouragement for those who are discouraged, and comfort to those in danger. You must be an administrator of the life and ministry of a local church and a leader who leads the church in However, among all these responsibilities and others, the pastor is first and foremost (and above all) a preacher.
In setting such a priority in fulfilling his call, the pastor follows not only the pattern set by Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles, but also the example of our Lord. At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus stood in the synagogue of Nazareth and announced his plan, using the words of the prophet Isaiah:
Is the Spirit of the Lord above me?Proclaim the liberation of captives and the restoration of sight for the blind?And proclaim the pleasant year of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19).
He was anointed to preach
Often when we study the life of Christ in the Gospels, we allow miracles to arise in our minds; Even though they are so stressed, we must remember that Jesus performed miracles in the midst of his preaching and teaching ministry. He cried out for more miracles, he said to his disciples: “Let’s go to other places, to the nearby towns, so that I can also preach there, why did I come here?” (Mk 1. 38). God had only one Son and he a preacher.
Do you preach the word ?! was the Apostle’s warning to Timothy. “Preach the word, exhort, whether it is timely or not, to correct, to rebuke, to exhort with all patience and doctrine?(2 Timothy 4. 2). This commandment, in itself, is strong enough to animate Pastors should stand up and realize the great emphasis on preaching. However, Paul continued to write to reinforce this warning with a very disturbing argument. The reason pastors should preach the Word is that there will be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine. ; on the contrary, they will surround themselves with teachers according to their own lusts, such as itching in their ears; And they will refuse to listen to the truth, giving in to fables?(2 Tim 4. 3-4).
Who are Paul talking about?He did not mean people who were outside the church; I meant the church members who listened to the preacher. The reason Timothy needed to preach the Word with authority was the inevitable inner tendency of men to resist sound doctrine. Preaching is God’s ordained way to combat this trend.
Today, we hear a lot about the irrelevance of preaching. The modern man (especially the one who has grown up over the last 4 decades) will simply not be silent in the face of such a “traditional” church. So what we have to do is give him what he wants: dramatization, dance, multimedia, all these and other methods are presented as the new proclamation vehicles for today’s church.
We’re told preaching is old-fashioned. Waiting for large groups of people to sit on church benches and listen to a man talk for half an hour or more is not only presumptuous, it’s silly. Despite this, did he please God, to save those who believe in the madness of preaching?[the message preached] (1 Co 1. 21).
So how should God’s people respond to the biblical emphasis on preaching as they live in a world that despises them more and more?First, we must decide to allow our beliefs to be shaped by the immutable Word of God and not by the changing tendencies of modern culture. Preaching must become and remain the priority of our gospel ministers. Churches have to emphasize it with their pastors, and pastors have to emphasize it with themselves.
Second, provisions are needed in the church to continue preaching a priority. A lot of good things are fighting for the pastor’s attention. There are always needs to meet and the departments are waiting for a ready hand to work. In the light of such demand, pastors must cultivate the same kind of humble audacity and deliberate negligence that the Apostles demonstrated when they were pastors of the church in their In the early days in the city of Jerusalem. Faced with the important needs of the congregation, these early leaders refused to be distracted from their main task: “Is it unreasonable for us to abandon the word of God to serve at the table?(AT 6. 2).
The situation was serious. Widows were neglected by the church; However, has the church entrusted this ministry to other full members of the Holy Ghost, so that the Apostles may focus on prayer and the ministry of the word?(V. 4). This kind of practical wisdom and willingness to delegate responsibilities must characterize the church if the priority of preaching is to be maintained.
Church members and officers should be very careful to insist that their pastor maintain the work of preaching as the priority of his ministry. John MacArthur emphasized this point eloquently in a sermon preached at the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors Conference in 1990 in New Orleans, Louisiana. How can church members encourage their pastor to make preaching their priority?Here are MacArthur’s suggestions:
Push him into his office, take the sign? And replace it with another one that says “Study Room”. Close it with your books, your typewriter and your Bible. To force him to kneel before the texts, broken hearts, the agitation of the life of a flock given to superficiality and to a Holy God.
Make him the only man in the church who knows enough about God. Throw him in the ring to box with God until he learns how small his arms are. Put him in battle with God all night, allowing him to go out alone when he’s hurt. and beaten, to the point of being a blessing.
Shut this man’s mouth, no matter if he’s a mere speaker. Prevent your tongue from stumbling on non-essential things. Demand that you have something to say before you break the silence. Burn your eyes with a grueling study. Eliminate your emotional balance by worrying about God’s things. Make him change his pious appearance for a humble walk with God and with men. Make him work for the glory of God.
Hang up your phone. Destroy your evaluation sheets. Put water in your gas tank. Give him a Bible and tie it to the pulpit; put it to the test, examine it, try it. Humble yourself by your ignorance of divine things. Be ashamed of your good understanding of economic issues, sports championship results and questions about political parties. Beware of your frustrated attempts to “be a psychiatrist. ” Form a choir, sing it and harass him, day and night, saying, “Pastor, we want to know God. “
When he finally gets on the pulpit, ask him if he has a word from God; If not, excuse him tell him he can also read the paper, digest comments on television, assess the superficial problems of the day, manage annoying community trends, and bless rice and beans better than he does.
And when I say the Word of God, listen to him. When he is swollen by The Burning Word of God, consumed by the fiery grace that burned him, when he has the privilege of having moved The Truth of God to man and, in the end, is moved from earth to heaven, bury him in a good man He plays the silenced trumpet. Put him to rest gently, placing a double-edged sword in his coffin and singing a triumph song, because before he died he became a man of God.
John Broadus’s assessment, made in 1870, remains valid for the last years of the twentieth century: “In all times of Christianity, since John the Baptist attracted multitudes into the wilderness, there have been no great religious movements, there has been no restoration of the truth of scripture. Is there no renewal of authentic piety, without a new power of preaching, both as a cause and as an effect?
If we expect genuine renewal and reform, there must be a return of power to the pulpit. The anointed preaching of the Spirit is the great need for our time. Let’s try to put our churches back on the board. Let us pray for those whose task is to fulfill the holy call to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Spirit. May God grant us a renewal of true preaching.