What’s the point of preaching in a worship service? What am I (the preacher) supposed to do? What are you supposed to do? Why do I work so hard on a sermon every week?
Paul commands the Colossians to let the Word of Christ dwell in them richly. Listen to this instruction to the church at Colossae about how they ought to live and the role the word plays (3:12-17):
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Let the word of Christ, or the message of Christ, dwell among us richly as we teach, admonish, sing, and pray. Let the Word pervade all of it. Let the Word shape the content of all you do in the service.
Preaching to Exalt
The Word of God is the content of our proclamation. The news the preacher proclaims is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Proclaiming this news magnifies, or exalts, God!
Consider Paul’s testimony to the Corinthians (1:18-25):
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called this message is the power and wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The Greeks want to be impressed with philosophy. They want big words and well-crafted rhetoric from good-looking, impressive, well-educated people.
The Jews may not be as interested in Greek philosophy, but they want signs of religious life. They want to see God move.
But we preach Jesus Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and just pure silliness to Gentiles. But to those who are called this message is the power and wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The message we preach will be rejected by all sorts of people. But those who receive it (those who receive Jesus in the gospel) receive the power and wisdom of God.
Week in and week out we preach Christ and him crucified. It ain’t a sermon till we get to Jesus. Spurgeon has the famous quote (paraphrased): If your sermon has nothing to do with Jesus, go home and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.
Proclaiming the message of the King glorifies the King. Psalm 96:3 speaks prophetically of the mission of the church: “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all peoples!”
When we preach, we declare and exalt Jesus. In Colossians 1 Paul says, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” We preach Christ for the maturation of the saints. That means we don’t just preach Jesus to convert someone, then move on to a litany of life lessons once they are converted. No, we keep preaching Jesus for the edification of the saints. What began with the power of God only progresses with the power of God.
When we preach the Word of God, we proclaim the gospel for the glory of God.
We remember the gospel by proclaiming it.
Preaching to Inspire
When I first started preaching, I basically just thought I was explaining. The first move in my preaching, then, was just learning how to interpret and share the Word of God. Sit down, study, and tell you what I learned. But I’ve embraced a second move. Yes, you learn how to interpret the Word of God, then you have to learn how to preach it to the people in front of you!
I must work really hard to get us here, but you must bring your head and heart to the table. I preach the Word, then, in a way that speaks to your head and your heart.
I was listening to Timothy Keller talk about preaching in a panel discussion from 2015. And something his wife said to him stuck with me. The first part of your sermon is good, you know, you’re laying a foundation or you’re explaining what’s going on in the text, and all these people are taking notes and finding helpful points. (And that’s good!) But it doesn’t become a sermon until you get to Jesus.
She told him, “There’s a point in your sermons where we put our pens down and just behold the beauty of God.”
In every good sermon, I think, there is a time to pick up your pen and a time to lay it down. There are moments where our hearts are so gripped by the beauty and power of God that we are moved to worship – we’re just inspired.
The Word inspires us because the word is alive. It does stuff in our hearts–stuff that I cannot do and you cannot do.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:12-13
When the Word of God goes forth, there’s no telling what it’s going to do. It’ll pierce your soul. It’ll stare into your heart. No one is safe for the living word of God in this place!
Brothers and sisters, the Word of God is alive. Most of you don’t really remember what I say in sermons, but you do leave with some sort of impression. Preaching is an art, as much as it’s a science. Art matters in the Bible. Remember, the prophets spoke in poetry.
Beauty and form matter. We preach every week not just to be taught, though we are taught, but to be inspired. Not in a cheap way, an Osteen-y way. (Part of why that stuff is so popular, if we’ll be charitable, is that people are starving for inspiration.) We’re not inspired by empty promises and an impassioned speaker, no, we are inspired by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Preaching to Instruct
Paul tells his protégé, Timothy (2 Timothy 3-4): there will be terrible times coming. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, not lovers of good, conceited, lovers of pleasure not God–having a form of godliness but denying its power.
Avoid those people. In fact, he says, have nothing to do with them.
10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 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 Timothy 3:10-17
The Scriptures are breathed out by God and they will teach you everything you need to live a righteous life.
The Scriptures (which are living) instruct us in the way of the Lord. As we preach them, then, we are inspired by an encounter with the living God and we are instructed by the living God.
In light of that reality (that we Word is sufficient for training in godliness) here is the charge from Paul to Timothy…
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
2 Timothy 4:1-5
See the force with which Paul commissions him to preach. In season and out of season. When the church is full and when the church is empty! Preach with patience and teaching.
Some will wander off. But you keep preaching.
We remember the story when we preach. But remembering something implies knowing it. We also teach the story of Jesus when we preach. We proclaim the gospel and explore the implications of it across the whole of Scripture. We come on Sunday to be instructed for a life of godliness.
CONCLUSION
The Word is alive. The Word is able. The Word is sufficient. We proclaim Jesus Christ – a stumbling block to the Greeks and the Jews, but the power of God for salvation to those who believe. When we exalt Jesus in the preached Word, we are both inspired and instructed.
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
