Why Do People Sleep Under The Pulpit
A Thesis On The Need For Gospel Centred Expository Preaching
Contents
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1. Introduction
-Preliminary Assumptions
-Who the people of God are according to God
-The Worshiper and the Word of God
-The light of the Gospel: The glory of Christ
2. The centrality of God's word in the glorification of God's Name and the joy of His Worshippers
-The inevitability of God's word in the glorification of God's Name
-God being glorified by the Christ-treasuring worship of God's people
3. The centrality of God's word in preaching
-What is the mission of preaching keeping in view of God's greatest purpose
-The issues to be met by preaching
i)issue of motivation
ii)issue of power
4. The centrality of God's word in expository preaching
-What is expository preaching
-How it fulfills the mission of preaching
-How it meets the issues to be met by preaching
5. The centrality of God's word in Gospel centred expository preaching
-What does it mean to be gospel centred?
-How being gospel centred in expository preaching meets the issues to be met by preaching
-How it strengthens worship by making preaching nothing but worship over the word.
-An example of gospel centred expository preaching.
6. Conclusion
-A summary of how gospel centred expository preaching will meet all the needs of a God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, worship-producing preaching.
-A plea to recover the evangelical protestant gospel
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1. Introduction
- Preliminary Assumptions
It is indeed a great concern to all who are genuine lovers of biblical truth, that these days in the Evangelical world, there is a growing decline of passionate love for the word of God. There sure is preaching, teaching, small groups messages, conference messages, Bible studies and a host of other meetings of the church where the Bible is opened. But the concern should not merely be much about whether or not we open the Bible, but rather what do we do after opening our Bibles. Then of concern should be its corollary of how hearers take what they heard, once the Bible has been opened and properly dealt with.
It is my conviction that passionate love of the word of God is not merely seen in the fact that we open our Bibles in our meetings, but what we do with the open Bible and how it is received by the hearers. These days everyone in the Evangelical Protestant world seems to be biblical. We sure do quote scripture for each and every thing, with some relief that by quoting verses we have proven our love for the word of God. Though we need to be in a position where whatever we do or think, should be backed by Scriptures, the fault we need to realize is that by merely quoting verses to back things we say and do is not enough to prove our love of the word of God. If that is the only proof we have of our love of the word of God, then that shows our shallow understanding of what it means to passionately love the word of God.
If the only proof of our love for the word of God is that we open the Bible in our meetings and quote some proof texts to back our opinions and spiritual talk, then that is indeed a proof of our poor love for the word of God. Should not a passionate love for the word of God prove itself in not only opening the Bible in our meetings, but also showing utmost care and reverence in how the open Bible is dealt - namely how we preach, and in how the word is received in the pews - namely with worshipful hearts, (and this being a consequence of the above mentioned proper dealing or preaching of scriptures).
There is no need to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the spiritual lifeline of the church is her preaching. Still if some indeed have doubts regarding this trustworthy statement, then let them study the history of the church. For their sake, let me quote Edwin Charles Dargan, who in the opening pages of his two volume 'A History of Preaching' writes :
"Decline of spiritual life and activity in the churches is commonly accompanied by a lifeless, formal, unfruitful preaching. And this partly as cause and partly as effect. On the other hand, the great revivals of Christian history can most usually be traced to the work of the pulpit and in their progress they have developed and rendered possible a high order of preaching."
Also P.T Forsyth at the turn of the century wrote:
"It is perhaps an over-bold beginning, but I will venture to say that with its preaching, Christianity stands or falls."
Thus it would be fair to say that the present decline in the passionate love for the word of God can be traced to the pulpit. It is not that the preachers are not preaching from the Bible, but that the way we preach is to be put under consideration. It is an imperative to see if today's preaching is a real outpouring of genuine passionate love of the pulpit for the word of God. Also whether or not today's preaching is fulfilling all that God wants it to accomplish. In other words, we need to test both the intention and effect of today's preaching, in light of what the scriptures declare.
Preaching of a church often reveals the passion of the pulpit for the word of God. If in a church, all one hears is a talkative preacher who fills his speech with the word here and there, then one should suspect whether or not the pulpit is wholly under the authority of the word of God. Who is serving whom is the big question? Is the pulpit a servant of the scriptures, in that it is faithfully trying to make known what the scriptures are communicating? Or is the pulpit treating the scriptures as a servant, in that whenever it finds useful piece of information which is worth quoting in its talk, it quotes scripture? Did the preacher get his message while expounding scriptures or did he already make up his mind what he is going to speak and then searched the bible for verses to hang on his message? Now it boils down to the question of which method of preaching is best - topical or expository. In all fairness, we cannot generalize and say that all topical preaching is always bad, as all expository preaching will always be good. However it is my firm conviction that unless a pulpit is radically sold out to regular and systematic exposition of the scriptures, it is dangerous to venture out into topical preaching. I would go even far to say that a church whose pulpit preaches only topical sermons, is to be suspected of having pastors who are lazy to wrestle with scriptures in a systematic fashion and yield its meaning for the congregation. Thus by studying the methodology of preaching, popularly engaged by pulpits today, we shall see how our love for the word fares.
Preaching must sure also be evaluated with its effects on the pew. The effects of the pulpit are more visible than its intent. When there is a mere religious, moral harangue and tirade, which lacks the freshness of Bible saturated preaching and relentless orientation to the gospel, people sure will lack passionate allegiance to the word of God and a worshipful heart beholding the glory of Christ in the preached word. No wonder that people do sleep under such ministry of the pulpit. Reference is not only made to those who doss down in the pews, but also those whose spirits are asleep, whose hearts are not burning being under the ministry of the word of God. Thus the work of the pulpit has direct consequences on how the church worships God - inside and outside the church building. However when the pulpit is not even able to keep people fervent for God even while it is preaching, it is not going to make people be radical worshipers elsewhere. Thus I believe the shocking reality of growing immorality among professing Christians and compromising of biblical standards by people who call themselves Evangelicals, can all be traced back to a deficient pulpit. Thus the health of the pulpit is so vital for the church and the society.
What I endeavor to do by the grace of God is to present a study of preaching and how it can be done in a manner that will suit all those requirements laid on it, by understanding the ultimate purpose of God in all things. Hence at the beginning, I will try to explain what the great and ultimate purpose of God is in all things and thus define the Christian world-view in which preaching is to be understood and analyzed. I do this out of my firm conviction that if preaching is merely studied as an oratory skill employed merely to entertain people, then all we study and suggest will be to make it better in its oratorical purposes. Many have done such studies and presented many methods and techniques to make preaching entertaining and enjoyable. Sure preaching ought not to be dull and boring. However I would dare call such preposterous attempts to revive preaching with superior oratorical techniques as nothing but abject foolishness. This is precisely because the end for which preaching is to be employed, is defined differently for me, by my understanding of the Christian world-view. In order to understand preaching - what it is and how it should be done, we should relentlessly orient ourselves to the world-view in which God has ordained preaching. Unless we derive and align our understanding of preaching from that great and all consuming purpose of God in all things, we shall surely go astray in all our endeavors.
I lay my whole being upon God to grant me wisdom and grace in all things I do in this great endeavor, of which I am truly undeserving and unqualified. I hope in God who has chosen this good for nothing, to do all good things foreordained in Christ Jesus, my blessed Saviour. My prayer is that may God use whatever I write by His grace, to bring vital health to His church through her pulpit, for the glory of His Name and the joy of His people.
(To Be Continued... )
