Preach the Word
/ charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
(2Timothy 4:1-2 NKJV)
When Paul wrote his second epistle to Timothy, he wrote in the shadow of his own death. He was again a prisoner in Rome and knew that this time he would not be released. He saw his departure was close at hand, and he wrote with the courageous calm of a faithful servant of the Lord (4:6-8). Paul wrote to his co-worker and spiritual son, Timothy, to encourage the younger evangelist in the work he would continue after Paul was gone. In many ways Second Timothy (along with First Timothy and Titus) gives us a pattern for preaching after apostles. How would men preach once the apostles and inspired prophets and writers who contributed to the New Testament scriptures were all dead? Paul's final exhortations to Timothy give us the clearest description of what men are to preach in the post-apostolic period: they are charged to preach the word.
Paul could have said "Preach the truth," but he didn't. Paul could have said, "Encourage people to be good, moral, and kind," but he didn't say that either. Paul didn't even encourage Timothy to present lessons that were Biblical. Paul told Timothy to preach the word. What word was to be preached? The context leaves no doubt. In the verses immediately preceding Paul's charge to Timothy, he reminded his younger brother, "You must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2Ti. 3:14-17). Because the scriptures are able to make one wise for salvation through faith - faith comes by hearing God's word (Ro. 10:17) - and because they are inspired by God and essential for instructing and completing the disciple of Christ, Paul says, "Preach the word."
It seems there is too little preaching of the word in pulpits today, too little emphasis on the scriptures as the foundation for all religious teaching. When men do not preach the word, they do not present the wisdom of God. When men do not preach the word, they do not equip men for righteousness and salvation. When men do not preach the word, they do not point men to Jesus Christ - they exalt their own wit and wisdom instead. When men do not preach the word, they do not obey the word of our Lord Jesus Christ sent by His apostle, Paul. Preaching the word does not mean preaching a lesson and including a few Bible verses to support what you say. Preaching the word means your subject is introduced by the Bible and/or illuminated by the Bible, in either case making it a scriptural subject for religious study. The preacher's task in this post-apostolic period is not to decide what he wants to preach or what he thinks the people need (or want) to hear (obviously these factors must be weighed, but they are of secondary importance, at best). The preacher's task is to determine what the word of God says and to preach His word, nothing more and nothing less. That is what God wants taught to His people. That is what God knows His people need to hear. Preach the word, and let God's word speak to God's people. If more people in the pews had a Biblical understanding of the preacher's task and demanded he live up to it, perhaps we would hear more preaching of the Bible from the men in our pulpits. —JME
Editorial: God's Wisdom..."First PURE..."
In James 3:17, James tells us: "...the wisdom that is from above is FIRST pure, THEN peaceable..." In order of priority, it is more important to insure that the gospel is taught without error, than it is for men to live in peace. As good as peace is, it is not as good as an unperverted gospel. Or to put it another way, as important a mission as establishing peace is, it is not as important as the mission to preach (and pass on to the next generation - 2 Tim 2:2) the gospel just as it was preached by Paul, Peter, and other first century evangelists.
In the first century, preachers understood that priority. Then, they went to great lengths to defend the integrity of truth. Then, such words as "dispute", "argue", "content", etc. were commonly used to describe their work. Then, departures from the content of truth were branded as "heresy", "perverted gospel", etc., and those responsible were unhesitatingly called "false prophets". Even Christians known for their reliability still had to past the test of truth - and their teaching was examined for the purity of its content- to see "whether these things were so..." (Acts 17:11). But it is certainly not that way NOW!
When was the last time you heard someone questioned about his teaching? When was the last time YOU questioned the teaching of a preacher or teacher (even "yours")? Along with the passing of "proof text" preaching, has gone the habit of searching the scriptures to determine if there IS a proof text for what we are routinely told is the absolute truth. Literally millions of gullible followers are following the downward road to hell because they have neither the concern nor the commitment to verify the message. Basically, we have become a people of a "hand-me-down" religion - spoon fed to us from others, with no first-hand conviction based upon personal study and comparison.
Even worse, we have developed a collective mentality that thinks the only dangerous people are those who DO raise needed questions. At some point, we need to listen to the words of Jesus: "Let them alone; they be blind, leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." (Matt 15:13). Instead of being uncomfortable when we hear human assertions unsupported by Bible evidence, we are uncomfortable if our neighbor dares to insist that we need more than a preacher's word upon which to base our faith, and our hope of eternal happiness.
In the passage at the head of this article, James was contrasting "heavenly" versus "earthly" wisdom. "Earthly wisdom" he denounces as "devilish". Are we willing to take a chance that what we hear (which may not have the clear backing of a "thus saith the Lord") is "heavenly" without investigating? The stakes are high, and our future happiness is as stake. Be suspicious of the teacher who refuses to explain his reasons, or belittles a search for truth. Is your conviction built upon a "rock", or upon the "sand" of human opinion? There is a way to KNOW! -The Editors
A Secure Investment
"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and
spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what
your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and
then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do
this or that'. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
—James 4:13-15
The words of James resonate with anyone who turned on the news last week. You can turn on any network you like to hear a reporter reporting the downturns of the market, or an expert explaining about the recession we are headed towards, or some politician blaming some other politician for the problems we face. As we look at our nation's financial situation, there is very little to inspire confidence. We have been forced to realize, both as a nation and as individuals, that our economic future is not secure.
This is not an inaccurate or cowardly way to look at what lies ahead in this world. In fact, quite the opposite: it is arrogant for us to rely upon our financial plans to give us security while we ignore God's place as ruler of all. We need to humble ourselves before God, realizing that economic blessings are a gift from Him but are also unimportant in the long run. Jesus Himself said that we should not lay up "treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal". This world and its blessing—or curses—are temporary necessities. Those who follow Jesus look further.
Consequently, followers of Jesus Christ will not be affected by financial distress. Now, if the U.S. economy undergoes a depression, there will obviously be an impact on anybody who lives in the U.S. Worldly people will see such a depression as one of the worst things that could happen to them, but Christians will see it as only a minor inconvenience. You see, where worldly people build their lives around what they possess in this world, Christians follows Jesus. Christians build their lives on the things of eternity, following the other half of Jesus' commandment by laying "up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and thieves do not break in and steal".
If we follow Christ, we can have eternal life. If we build our life around obeying God's Word—which we have preserved in the writings of the Bible—we can build a life on principles that will last forever. If we give all that we have to the God and Father of all, then we will have nothing left to lose. We can be at peace, confident that, whatever happens in this world, our future in the next world is still secure. An investment in a godly life is the only secure investment.
"All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever—and this is the Word which was preached to you. "- —1 Peter 1:24-25 —Ben Williamson