Preaching: What's on the Menu?

“The first mark of a healthy church is expositional preaching. It is not only the first mark; it is far and away the most important of them all, because if you get this one right, all of the others should follow…If you get the priority of the Word established, then you have in place the single most important aspect of the church’s life…The congregation’s commitment to the centrality of the Word coming from the front, from the preacher, the one specially gifted by God and called to that ministry, is the most important thing you can look for in a church.”  Mark Dever

   If you’re new to Grace you may wonder about our commitment to Scripture and what’s the “pulpit menu.” At Grace we’re committed to what’s known as “expository preaching.” Rather than interpreting the Bible, we want to understand Scripture and what God has written for us. That’s why it’s exciting to return to our study of 1 Samuel: God of Reversals. Today we’re picking up our study in chapter 11 with the commencement of the reign of Israel’s first monarch, King Saul. 

  Why are we so committed to this kind of study? Let me share a story about a guy who happened to notice one day as he was looking out his window that somebody was building something near his home. He watched each day as construction workers cleared the land and moved dirt and trucks rolled in and out. The guy said that the first thing he saw them do was to pour a big concrete slab and then they put a big steel looking box on top of the slab. There was just this big box on the slab, so he figured that this must be some kind of storage shed or something the workers kept their tools in. But then he noticed that after a day or two that the workers began to build a concrete wall all around the big box. Then, they added drywall and now he’s really wondering, “What in the world they are building?”

  Finally, his curiosity gets the best of him and he goes over and says, “I’ve been watching you guys each day. I saw you pour a foundation and put this box in the middle and then build a wall around it. I’m curious, what in the world you’re building?” The construction worker replied, “Oh, we’re building a bank. That box you’re talking about with the wall all around it is the vault.” He then explained that when you build a bank, you build the central and most important part of the bank first, then you build everything else around it. Because of the large size of the vault and its weight, they had to start with it or later they wouldn’t be able to fit it through the door. 

  Because of the importance of the vault, that it would contain all manner of riches, treasures and wealth, it was the key part of the building. They wanted to be sure they got it right, and then built everything else around the centrality of the vault.

  The same is true when you want to build up God’s people and build a local church. When you build a family, when you build a relationship, and when you build a life, you first make sure that the most important part is in place—the Bible. Then, you build everything else around it. 

  Because the Bible contains all the riches and treasures and wealth of the Gospel, it’s the foundation of our lives. Everything else must be built around the centrality of the Bible. When we do this our lives are built to last, not just for this temporal world but for all eternity.

  From the world of real estate, you’ve probably heard the repeated refrain that identifies the most important consideration in a transaction as “location, location, location.” That’s true when it comes to expository preaching. The most important consideration for preaching a sermon is “the text, the text, the text.” Our goal is to simply show or “expose” what God wrote in His Word. That’s because…

  Expository preaching proceeds from the authority of the text. We don’t invent the sermon. Ours is a derived ministry in that we’re charged to share the message found in God’s Word. Without a word from God, we have nothing meaningful to say. We believe that the Spirit has authorized and inspired the words of Scripture in a manner with which He has not inspired our words. Our authority in preaching hinges at every point on the uniquely authorized nature of the biblical text. It’s why we stay as close to the text as possible. As J. I. Packer put it, “Preaching is letting texts talk.”

  Expository preaching gives functional priority to the text in the passage of Scripture. Prioritizing the text in our preaching can’t be overstated. The passage of Scripture must govern what we say about it, when we say what we say about it, and even how we say what we say about it. A sermon’s affirmations and assertions should be linked to the text.

  Structurally, an expository sermon is more than simply offering a running commentary on the passage. The sermon must be arranged as the text presents itself and have a concise main idea that reflects it clearly. The message should convey something of the “spirit” of the text. Delivery must reflect joy when the text focuses on rejoicing. Likewise, it should convey gravity and brokenness when the text focuses on sin and its consequences.

  Expository preaching recognizes the life-changing potential and eternal impact of the text. Our commitment to expository preaching is rooted in the recognition of the timelessness of Scripture. As important as dynamic delivery and careful crafting of words are, what changes lives is not pulpit passion, great stories or cleverly timed phrases.

  What changes lives is the word of God, inspired and energized by the Holy Spirit. That changes lives forever. God’s Word has an eternal impact in that, like no other source, it confronts hearers with ultimate realities like life and death, heaven and hell, and hope and hopelessness.

  When we prioritize the text, we honor the Lord who inspired it and Scripture edifies those who hear it. Our handling of the text sets the tone for how our church will handle Scripture. Through faithful expository preaching, we have the opportunity to model an appropriate reverence and regard for God’s Word. We also have the wonderful privilege of assisting others in learning how to care for their own spiritual meals.

  How we preach and teach reveals what we believe about the Bible. Anyone can sign an orthodox statement of faith, but that doesn’t prove what we really believe. Our true convictions about God and His Word are evidenced by what we preach and how we preach – that it’s God’s Word, not our opinion or perspective.  

  This is why we’re committed to working our way through 1 Samuel (and other books of the Bible). We want to hear what God has to say to us and apply His truth to our lives!

 Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

The Priority of Preaching: Why We Do What We Do

 

“The preacher’s task is to declare what God has said, explain the meaning, and establish the implications so that no one will mistake its relevance.” Alistair Begg 

Once after the famous French preacher, Jean Baptiste Massillon had preached, a listener exclaimed, “What an eloquent sermon! How gloriously he preached!” When that comment was reported to Massillon, he replied, “Then he did not understand me. Another sermon has been thrown away!” 

  God has not called preachers to entertain or be eloquent. He’s called us to something so much higher and so much greater. We are to “preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:2). That’s our commitment at Grace Church. We are not attempting to please people but a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s His Book and we want to honor Him. 

  Humanly speaking, particularly in our media saturated culture, preaching doesn’t make sense. It never has. It’s why 1 Corinthians 1:21 refers to “the foolishness of preaching.” The pulpit and preaching are not to be a bully pulpit or a place for our opinions. It must be the message from God’s Word that the Holy Spirit anoints and applies to our lives. 

  After I’m done preaching, my heart’s desire is that you can look at your Bible and understand what Scripture is saying and how it applies to your life. One day we will all stand before our Sovereign, Jesus Christ the Judge of the living and the dead. In view of that solemn day, it’s essential preachers preach God’s Word. It’s essential that you listen to the preaching of God’s Word with a view to obedience. It’s frightening when someone is goofing off, whispering or scanning their phone during a sermon. Some day they will give account for ignoring the Word of God. On that great coming day when we stand before Christ, we want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” Preaching and hearing the Word are of utmost importance in view of eternity. Then, how do we accomplish this? 

  We must preach God’s Word. Our preaching must be resolutely Biblical. The task of the preacher is to expound or bring out of the biblical text what is already there. The preacher’s responsibility is to open up the passage in such a way the message is communicated clearly, accurately, relevantly, without addition, subtraction, or falsification. Preaching is not a dull lecture. God’s Word is alive and powerful. Nothing is boring about His Word. It’s a sin to be boring with Scripture. We enter the pulpit with confidence that God has spoken, that He’s caused what He has spoken to be written and we have this inspired text in our hands. It’s astounding that we have God’s Word in our hands and on our lips. It’s God’s grace. Understanding what God has written is hard and serious work. 

  We must preach to our contemporary world. God’s Word is relevant. It intersects with cultural and social issues: racism, civil liberties, morality, poverty, government, ethics, marriage, family…to name a few. As Scripture speaks to these issues, the preacher must not be silent or he has failed the Lord and his God-given mandate. Wise preachers are to equip the congregation with biblical convictions through expository preaching. It’s our responsibility to open up scriptural principles which relate to the problems of our culture in such a way as to help everybody to develop a biblical worldview. The pulpit must help listeners develop Christian thinking so they can penetrate their segment of the community more deeply for Christ. We’re not to sacrifice truth to relevance or relevance to truth, yet resolve to be faithful to Scripture and pertinent to today. 

  We must listen before we preach.  How do we learn to build bridges from the ancient biblical text to our contemporary world? The wise preacher listens carefully both to the ancient Word and the modern world to be able to relate the one to the other with faithfulness to the Word and sensitivity.  We must listen to the voice of God in the Scriptures above all. It’s the first and most important act of listening. Yet, God has called us to share His message with real people so we must listen to the voices of those in the world around us. It means listening, knowing and caring about both those in the congregation and those outside the church. Faithful preachers need to ask questions and listen to the answers. It means listening to those from varied generations, ethnic and economic groups. 

  We must practice what we preach. It’s not enough to preach well, we must live well. The message that breaks the heart of the listeners must first break the preacher’s heart. I don’t know what other preachers do, yet I find that I’m often broken and humbled before the light of God’s Word as I work through the text. Wise is the preacher who is cognizant that his actions before and after speaking will speak louder than his words. A preacher must be a person of deep convictions and commitment. He must live to serve and please King Jesus and to bring glory to His name. 

  Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones pastored Westminster Chapel in London during World War II. London suffered, with tens of thousands killed or injured. One Sunday, a bomb fell a short distance away while Lloyd-Jones prayed during a service. The sound was tremendous. Windows rattled. Plaster fell. Lloyd-Jones paused for a moment and then continued to pray. 

  The man who gave announcements came up when the prayer was over. After he’d completed his task, he dusted Lloyd-Jones off, and then Lloyd-Jones started preaching. Why would he do this? Because D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones knew that preaching was the main thing. 

  Wise are D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones words: “I would say without any hesitation that the most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and the most urgent need in the Church, it is obviously the greatest need of the world also.” 

  With bombs falling, and the future of England in question, Lloyd-Jones kept preaching. Our world desperately needs the message from God. We need that focus today. God’s preachers dare not abandon their post! 

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

"That's just your interpretation..."

“The shortest road to an understanding of the Bible is the acceptance of the fact that God is speaking in every line.” Donald Grey Barnhouse

  As the global market opened in the 1990’s international marketers had some monumental cross-cultural miscommunication blunders concerning brand names and slogans. For example, Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the phrase meant, “Bite the wax tadpole.” Then, in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan, “Finger-lickin’ good” came out as, “Eat your fingers off.” In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan, “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” came out as, “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.” When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its advertisements were supposed to say, “It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you.”  However, the company mistakenly thought the Spanish word embarazar meant embarrass. Instead the advertisement said, “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

  Clear communication is vital. And nowhere is it more vital than in the clear communication of God’s Word. At Grace Church, we prefer the term understanding in relation to studying the Bible rather than interpretation. We don’t want to be accused of “that’s your interpretation.” It’s why we’re committed to understanding what God has written and Scripture says. God’s Word is not soft clay to be molded, shaped or re-shaped according to our whims, presuppositions or culture. It’s God’s Word. We’re committed to understanding what He’s written, not imposing our own interpretation.

  2 Timothy 2:15 commands us, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” The Bible is God’s “word of truth.” Truth is accurate, objective and knowable. If a carpenter came to your home without a level, square, tape measure or a set of plans, you’d be concerned. If you asked him about his methods and he responded, “We all have different ways of seeing things. No way is absolutely right. Who’s to say that your house has to be plumb and square?”—you’d be very concerned! You want your house built carefully and accurately according to the plans. God’s Word is not the sort of thing where one person can see it one way and another can see it another, and ultimately, it doesn’t matter because no one can really know what it means.

  Every biblical text has a fixed meaning that’s true and never changes. It’s imperative that we study, seeking to discover the meaning of each text. Otherwise, we’re sloppy workmen and should be ashamed.

  “Rightly handling” means “to cut a road in a straight direction, so that the traveler may go directly to his destination.” To use a farming metaphor, it means plowing a straight furrow. The idea is to focus and accurately cut through the words of Scripture, so we reach the destination of godliness.

  Change doesn’t come from feeling good or liking certain ideas that we think come from Scripture. Change comes when we’re confronted with God’s truth and submit our lives to it. All of us, and especially those who teach, must be skillful and accurate so Scripture is clearly understood. How can you obey, apply and submit to God’s truth if you don’t understand it? The application of Scripture to our lives is what brings about life change.

  Today we’re returning to our study of Luke’s Gospel, Finding Jesus. Because we hold a high view of Scripture, we’re committed to what’s known as “expository preaching.” Expository preaching is firmly rooted in God’s Word. It means that the text of Scripture is the starting and ending point of the message. The biblical text is the foundation for the sermon’s theme and shape. A clear understanding of the biblical text is a prerequisite. Application must be rightly related to what God intended to convey, not some pastoral hobby horse. The point of the passage must be the point of the sermon. God wants people to hear from Him, not us.

  Expository preaching is not a lecture or meandering through a passage. It’s preaching that sees the goal of the sermon as conveying the truth the Holy Spirit intended in giving the Word. It’s a necessary corollary of the doctrine of the God-breathed nature (2 Timothy 3:16) of Scripture. The idea is not so much that God breathed into the Scriptures, but that the Scriptures are the product of His breathing out. Independent of what we may feel about the Bible as we read it, Scripture maintains a “breath of God” quality. The preacher must make God’s Word understandable and limit himself to Scripture without adding or subtracting to fit his own perspective. Expository preaching is the method least likely to stray from Scripture by keeping to the main thing. It also teaches the congregation how to read their Bibles and how to think through a passage to understand and apply Scripture to their own lives. It gives confidence to the preacher and authorizes the sermon. He’s not sharing his opinions. When the preacher is faithful to the text, he’s confident his message is God's message, and it forces the preacher to handle the tough truths in a text.

  When Jim Elliot, the famed missionary martyr, was a student at Wheaton, he wrote in his diary, “My grades came through this week, and were, as expected, lower than last semester. However, I make no apologies, and admit I’ve let them drag a bit for study of the Bible, in which I seek the degree A.U.G., ‘approved unto God.’” May we have that same commitment of preaching, teaching and applying of God’s truth to our own lives so that we may be “approved unto God.” 

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Preaching: Sharing God's Truth

“One of the reasons for the disinterest in expository preaching is surely that so many attempts at it prove lifeless, dull, and even thoroughly boring. I never cease to be amazed by the ingenuity of those who are capable of taking the powerful, life-changing text of Scripture and communicating it with all the passion of someone reading aloud from the Yellow Pages!”  Alistair Begg

  Today we’re in the third week in our return to the study of Luke’s Gospel, Luke: Finding Jesus. Every now and then it’s important to share why we do what we do at Grace Church.

  At Grace, we’re committed to a systematic study of God’s Word. All of us have lots opinions and sometimes can speak with authority, but only God’s Word has ultimate authority. It’s what the Reformers called, Sola Scriptura. That term is from the Latin. Sola has the idea of “alone, ground and base.” Scriptura means “writings,” referring to the Scriptures. Sola Scriptura means that the Bible, God’s Word alone is authoritative for faith and practice. It’s complete, authoritative and true. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

  Because the Bible is our only authority, we’re committed to expository preaching. That simply means that the sermon is designed to communicate what the biblical text says with its meaning and application for today’s audience. A recent example would be the last two sermons from Luke 12.

  Yet, those were very difficult passages. First, they were very convicting for all of us and secondly, Jesus says some “hard things.” To be candid, if we were not working our way through Luke, I doubt if I’d ever preach on those passages. But they’re part of the Bible and specifically, the words of Jesus. They’re very important. Expositional preaching means that just because something is uncomfortable or not PC, we can’t skip over it.

  Expository preaching then means to preach with the highest view of Scripture. It demands that the preacher take the Bible seriously and show the utmost respect to the original meaning. The preacher is not the interpreter of what God has written, rather he is responsible to honestly seek to understand what the passage means and then share that with the congregation. It’s not bringing one’s own interpretation or opinions to the biblical text, but instead submitting to God’s intended meaning and purpose. The preacher must let the text speak again through the sermon with the same message God intentionally had the original message declare.

  Expository preaching is not a commentary or seminary lecture. It’s a sin to take the living Word of God (Hebrews 4:12) and make it boring. Our aim in preaching is not to be some world class scholar. Nor is it to titillate and amuse. Our aim is not even to build a big church or be flooded with comments of “nice sermon” at the door at the end of the service. No, our aim is to take the sacred text, explain what it means, tie it to other scriptures so that people can see the whole a little better, and apply it to life so it corrects and heals, instructs and edifies. It’s our conviction that there is no better way to accomplish this end than through expository preaching.

  Dr. Don Carson, professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School has suggested a number of strong reasons why expository preaching deserves to be the primary method of preaching God’s Word.

  It’s the method least likely to stray from Scripture. If you are preaching on what the Bible says about self-esteem, for example, undoubtedly you can find some useful insights. But even when you say entirely true things, you will likely abstract them from the Bible's central story line. Expository preaching keeps you anchored to the main source.

  It teaches people how to read their Bibles. Especially if you're preaching a long passage, expository preaching teaches people how to think through a passage, how to understand and apply God's Word to their own lives.

  It gives confidence to the preacher and authorizes the sermon. If you’re faithful to the text, then you’re certain that your message is God's message. Regardless of what’s going on in the church—whether it’s growing or even whether people like you—you know that you’re proclaiming God’s truth. That is wonderfully freeing for a preacher.

  It meets the need for relevance without letting the clamor for relevance dictate the message. All true preaching is to be properly applied. That’s of extraordinary importance in our generation. Expository preaching keeps the eternal and the real world central to the discussion.

  It forces the preacher to handle the tough questions. You start working through text after text, and soon you hit passages about divorce, re-marriage, church conflict, lawsuits, etc., and you have to deal with the text.

  It enables the preacher to expound systematically the whole counsel of God.  If we’re going to preach the whole counsel of God, we must teach the whole Bible. Other sermonic structures have their merits, yet none offers our church family more, week after week, than careful, faithful exposition of the Word of God.

  Preaching and deep study of God’s Word is not just for older saints. Millennials long for truth and authenticity. Even in today's hyper-techno-driven conversational-wiki-culture, preaching is of supreme importance. Of the several church-related or pastor-related issues noted by church dropouts, preaching came up several times as a critical issue in retaining young adults. In a day of “fake news,” the world is starving for ultimate truth. God’s Word is that source of truth and we must honestly share it!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.