Pastoral Preaching
[Note: the following comes from messages given by Ken Brown at the Michigan Expositor’s Summit a couple of years ago. — Editor]
The Preacher’s Task
If you were on your deathbed and had a final instruction to leave to your successor, what would it be? 2 Timothy 4 is the last chapter of the last letter we have from Paul in the New Testament. Paul speaks of his impending execution in verses 6-8:
I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8)
His final apostolic directive to his young protégé’ Timothy is found in verses 1-2:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:1-2)
See also Romans 10:13-17 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 on the necessity of preaching.
The primary word that is translated “preach” in the New Testament means “to herald, proclaim, declare the message of another”. It was used of the king’s ambassador who would deliver the king’s message to a foreign land. The message to be delivered was that of the king, not the messenger!
Since it is the “Word” that is to be preached, then the preacher must engage in exegesis of Scripture. The preacher should first ask “What does this text say?” before asking “What can I say about this text?” Exegesis refers to the process of “drawing out” the meaning of the biblical text and will give the message authority.
This all means, among other things, that:
- The preacher’s primary audience is not the congregation, but God.
- He comports himself accordingly – not as an entertainer, motivational speaker, or comedian.
- He prepares and so carries himself as one who is ready for his task – he gets right to it, no small talk, and little levity.
The Preacher’s (Secondary) Audience
Models for pastoral ministry abound in our day. Some see the pastoral role as that of CEO, others as a military general, still others the detached Bible scholar whose only responsibility is to deliver the Word each Sunday. This latter view, that of pastor-as-expositor-only, finds expression in the title “preacher.” While a term of endearment on the lips of most, it nevertheless indicates an understanding of the pastoral role.
Among those of us committed to a high view of Scripture, the Bible expositor/preacher model has held special sway, for very good reason – see above. And no less than G. Campbell Morgan, marvelous man of God, expositor, and homiletician, said the ideal pastorate has “a beaten path from the study to the pulpit.” Nevertheless, our preaching task must be thought of in the context of our pastoral calling.
Scripture tells us that pastors will one day “give an account” of their stewardship of those entrusted to their care:
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you (Hebrews 13:17).
The comments in the Expositors Bible Commentary are helpful in showing the relevance of this passage to the pastoral role:
The pronoun autoi puts some emphasis on the subject: “They and no one else.” The verb “keep watch” (agrypneo ) means literally “keep oneself awake, be awake”. There is the imagery of the leaders keeping awake nights in their concern for their people.
“They keep watch over you” is more literally “they keep watch for your souls,” … [and] it may well be that we are to see here a reference to spiritual well-being. The leaders are concerned for the deep needs of their people, not simply for what lies on the surface.
Therefore, to know our audience is to understand the people in our congregation, especially their spiritual status.
We see the sort of personal interaction that allows one to know the needs of his flock in the example of Paul and his ministry in Thessalonica. Although he spent a relatively short time with the Thessalonians (2-3 months), an extremely deep bond developed as described in 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20:
…we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you — certainly I, Paul, did, again and again — but Satan stopped us. For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.
This means that pastoral ministry is more than preaching. There should be a symbiotic relationship between preaching and personal ministry. In fact, one’s preaching will be more effective as he engages in personal ministry to the flock. To be better preachers, we need to be better pastors. Paul understood this vital relationship and therefore we often find him reminding his readers of the personal ministry he had among them. One such powerful example is found in Acts 20, where Paul bids farewell to the Ephesians:
From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. (17-20)
When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. (36-38)
While I am genuinely grateful for solid Bible conferences, Bible colleges, and seminaries, there is a potential hazard in them for the preacher namely, we can get the impression that there is a gift of ‘special speaker’. That is, we can come to believe that preaching is done by someone detached from the audience, and therefore his appeal is strictly due to his rhetorical gifts and presentation. While some of us will speak outside our congregation from time to time, the vast majority of our preaching will be done to the congregations God has graciously entrusted to us, and what we say, and how we say it, should flow from our relationship with our local assembly.
This all means, among other things, that:
- The pastor will feed the flock, and smell like sheep.
- The congregation will know and (presumably) appreciate their pastor, so that in hearing his words they also hear his heart.
- The pastor will be content where he is, and not pine for influence beyond his flock.
- The pastor will see his people as his ministry, rather than merely a necessary step to ‘real’ ministry.
The Preacher’s Character
If you’re criticized for your preaching, it may help you to know that you are in very good company. It’s amazing how much of Paul’s letters is devoted to defense of his ministry, and in some cases, specifically his preaching. Duane Litfin has written helpfully regarding Paul’s problem with his detractors:
To grasp Paul’s argument in this crucial passage (1 Corinthians 1-4) we must first come to grips with the challenge Paul was facing in Corinth. To be sure, that challenge was multifaceted, but at its core lay criticisms of Paul’s preaching. Paul simply did not measure up to the rhetorical standards the Corinthians had come to expect. They were used to the polished eloquence of the orators of the day, in comparison to which Paul’s preaching was found lacking. He was, as he himself admitted in 2 Corinthians 11:6, only a “layman” when it came to public speaking.
It is important to see that the difficulty for the Corinthians here was not a theological one. They had embraced the gospel Paul preached and were not, like the Galatians, in any apparent danger of abandoning it. Their problem was that due to their worldliness they were measuring Paul by the wrong yardstick. They wanted him to speak impressively, like the other speakers who regularly paraded before them. Instead, what they got was not Greek eloquence, but the relatively homely, straightforward proclamation of the herald. In status-conscious Corinth, Paul thus became an embarrassment to them, and they did not mind criticizing him for it. ((“An Analysis of the Church Growth Movement” in Reformation and Revival, Volume 7, Number 1, Winter 1998, pp. 59-60.))
The title of Litfin’s article is “An Analysis of the Church Growth Movement” because he sees in the attitude of the Corinthians the modern-day desire for entertainment, and notes that Paul steadfastly refused to indulge their worldly desires. To the contrary, Paul said famously in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5:
When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
This important passage has received too little attention in discussions of preaching, especially style of preaching. This is one of the few places in Scripture that both the message AND method (“my message and my preaching”) are emphasized. It is not enough to say that if someone gets the message right, it does not matter what vehicle is used to deliver it. Paul here indicates that were he to use the Corinthians’ desired method, he would in fact detract from the central message.
So how can we evaluate our method/style to avoid succumbing to the ever-present pull to please the crowd, and in so doing, displace Christ? James Denney (1856–1917), Scottish theologian and preacher, said: “No man can give the impression that he himself is clever and that Christ is mighty to save.” Convicting, no? John Piper offers some helpful thoughts on how we can use our words and manner in a careful, even artful way, but still exalt the Lord rather than ourselves:
Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:26–29)
First Prong: Self-Humiliation
Godʼs design both in the cross and in election is “that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” That is the first prong of our criterion to distinguish good and bad eloquence: Does it feed boasting? Does it come from an ego in search of exaltation through clever speech? If so, Paul rejects it. Then he continues, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lordʼ” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31).
Second Prong: Christ-Exaltation
The second design of God, not only in the cross and in election, but also in the sovereign grace of regeneration (verse 30, “Because of him you are in Christ Jesus”), is that all boasting be boasting in the Lord Jesus — the one who was crucified and raised. “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31).
Therefore, the second prong of our criterion for distinguishing good and bad eloquence is: Does it exalt Christ — especially the crucified Christ?
The point of both prongs is this: pride-sustaining, self-exalting use of words for a show of human wisdom is incompatible with finding your life and your glory in the cross of Christ. So, let your use of words be governed by this double criteria: self-humiliation and Christ-exaltation. ((https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/not-with-lofty-speech, accessed 8/4/19.))
This all means, among other things, that:
- We will conduct ourselves in a way consistent with the desire that “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30).
- We will use our personality to convey the message, but never eclipse it.
- We will seek to avoid distraction, while not being the attraction.
Ken Brown is the pastor of Community Bible Church in Trenton, MI. We republish his article by permission.
Photo by Biegun Wschodni on Unsplash