"Preach the Word"

“Preach the Word”

This sounds simple. But, exactly what does Paul mean? What message or what parts of the Bible does he have in mind? “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17), Paul has in mind the whole of the word of God. In the first century that would have been the Old Testament. Today, it includes all the inspired books of the New Testament.

Too often, we are worried about styles that is, we want a good communicator to share the word. Or, we want a new medium to present the word. We want a professional look and feel to our preaching and teaching. All that is well and good, but the only real test for any teacher or preacher, for any Christian, is the word of God.

Again, this means we cannot ignore parts of the Bible. We cannot avoid the hard texts, the challenging text, the texts that seem out of date. Note how Paul preached the word when he spoke to the elders from Ephesus. “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27) Paul told the Ephesian believers the whole purpose of God. That would have included the creation, the sin of Adam and Eve, the call of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the rest, the Exodus and on through the prophets and coming of Christ. To preach the word we must declare the whole message of God. Only by doing so do we get the whole picture of God’s plan and effort to save mankind.

The apostle Paul wants us to realize that this task never changes. We are to stand on the word at all times. There will be time when people want to hear from God. In times of war, or crisis, or pestilence, people often turn to the word of God. At other times people will not want to hear the word. When the subjects of abortion or homosexuality come up, people do not want to hear what God has to say. But our task is to be steady when it is convenient and steady when it is not convenient. We are to preach the word at all times.

Again, this is important for churches today in our society. Some churches are more interested in hot topics and current affairs than in proclamation of the word of God. There is much good information and education available. Churches can share some of that. But, at our center should be the declaration of the word of God.