Preaching Communicating Faith in an Age of skepticism.

142 Pages·2015·1.02 MB·English

by  Timothy Keller

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Prayer

VIKING
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Copyright © 2015 by Redeemer City to City and Timothy Keller
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All Bible references are from the New International Version (NIV), unless otherwise noted.
ISBN: 978-0-698-19509-7
Version_1
To the members of West Hopewell Presbyterian Church (1975–1984) who called me “Preacher”
even as I was stumbling to learn how to be one
CONTENTS
Also by the Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction: Three Levels of the Ministry of the Word
Prologue: What Is Good Preaching?
PART ONE
SERVING THE WORD
ONE
Preaching the Word
TWO
Preaching the Gospel Every Time
THREE
Preaching Christ from All of Scripture
PART TWO
REACHING THE PEOPLE
FOUR
Preaching Christ to the Culture
FIVE
Preaching and the (Late) Modern Mind
SIX
Preaching Christ to the Heart
PART THREE
IN DEMONSTRATION OF THE SPIRIT AND OF POWER
SEVEN
Preaching and the Spirit
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Writing an Expository Message
Notes
About the Imprint
INTRODUCTION: THREE LEVELS OF THE MINISTRY OF THE
WORD
A
ustralian theologian Peter Adam argues that what we call preaching, the formal public address
to the gathered congregation on a Sunday, is only one form of what the Bible describes as the
“ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:2, 6:4).1
On the day of Pentecost Peter cited the words of the prophet Joel, who said that God would pour
out his Spirit on all his people, and as a result “your sons and daughters will prophesy” (Acts 2:17).
Gerhard Friedrich, in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, says that there are at least
thirty-three Greek words in the New Testament usually translated as “preaching” or “proclaiming.”
Adam observes that these words describe activities that could not all be public speaking.2 For
example, Acts 8:4 says that all the Christians except the apostles went from place to place
“proclaiming the Messiah.” This cannot mean that every believer was standing up and preaching
sermons to audiences. Priscilla and Aquila, for example, explained the Word of Christ to Apollos in
their home (Acts 18:26).
We can discern at least three levels of “Word ministry” in the Bible. Paul calls all believers to
“let the message of Christ dwell among you richly” and to “teach and admonish one another with all
wisdom” (Colossians 3:16). Every Christian should be able to give both teaching (didaskalia, the
ordinary word for instruction) and admonition (noutheo—a common word for strong, life-changing
counsel) that convey to others the teachings of the Bible. This must be done carefully, though
informally, in conversations that are usually one on one. That is the most fundamental form of the
ministry of the Word. Let’s call it level 1.
At the more formal end of the spectrum are sermons: the public preaching and exposition of the
Bible to assembled gatherings, which we could call level 3. The book of Acts gives us many
examples, mainly drawn from the ministry of Peter and Paul, though also including an address by
Stephen that probably summarizes his path-breaking teaching. Acts gives us so many of these public
addresses that we could almost say that, from the point of view of Luke (the author), the development
of the early Christian church and the development of its preaching were one and the same.
There is, however, a “level 2” form of the ministry of the Word between informal, every-Christian
conversation and formal sermons. In an overlooked passage the apostle Peter describes the spiritual
gift of “speaking”:
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as
faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they
should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they
should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be
praised through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:10–11).
When Peter speaks of spiritual gifts he uses two very general terms.3 The first is the word for
speaking: lalein. In the rest of the New Testament this word can denote simple daily speech between
anyone (Matthew 12:36; Ephesians 4:25; James 1:19). It can also refer to a preaching ministry, as
with Jesus (Matthew 12:46 and 13:10) or Paul (2 Corinthians 12:19). What is Peter talking about
here?
When we map this passage over Paul’s gift lists in Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Corinthians 12
and 14, we see that there is a whole category of Word-ministry gifts that function in ways beside
public preaching to the assembled Sunday congregation. It includes personal exhortation or
counseling, evangelism, and teaching individuals and groups. Biblical scholar Peter Davids
concludes that when Peter writes of the spiritual gift of “speaking” he is “not referring to casual talk
among Christians, nor . . . referring only to the actions of [pastors] or other church officials” but
rather to Christians with “one of these verbal gifts” of counseling, instructing, teaching, or
evangelizing. In this category of ministry, Christian men and women aren’t preaching per se; they
prepare and present lessons and talks; they lead discussions in which they are presenting the Word of
Christ.4
Even though Peter is not only talking to public speakers he warns those who present the Word to
others in any form to take their task seriously. He adds that when Christians teach the Bible their
speech should be “as . . . the very words of God” (1 Peter 4:11). Davids notes that the little word
“‘as’ allows a slight distancing between their speaking and God’s words.” No Christian should ever
claim that his or her teaching is to be treated with the same authority as biblical revelation;
nevertheless, Peter makes the powerful, eye-opening claim that Christians who are presenting biblical
teaching are not to be simply expressing their own opinion but giving others “the very words of God.”
Just as in public preaching, Christians are to convey the truth as they understand it to be revealed in
the Scriptures.5 And if they explain the meaning of the Bible faithfully, listeners will be able to hear
God speaking to them in the exposition. They are listening not merely to an artifact of human ingenuity
but, as it were, to the very words of God.
Every Christian needs to understand the message of the Bible well enough to explain and apply it
to other Christians and to his neighbors in informal and personal settings (level 1). But there are many
ways to do the ministry of the Word at level 2 that take more preparation and presentation skills yet
do not consist of delivering sermons (level 3). Level 2 today may include writing, blogging, teaching
classes and small groups, mentoring, moderating open discussion forums on issues of faith, and so on.
This book aims to be a resource for all those who communicate their Christian faith in any way,
particularly at levels 2 and 3.
The Irreplaceability of Preaching
It is dangerous, then, to fall into the unbiblical belief that the ministry of the Word is simply preaching
sermons. As Adam says, that will “make preaching carry a load which it cannot bear; that is, the
burden of doing all the Bible expects of every form of ministry of the Word.”6 No church should
expect that all the life transformation that comes from the Word of God (John 17:17; cf. Colossians
3:16–17 and Ephesians 5:18–20) comes strictly through preaching. I shouldn’t expect to be shaped
into Christlikeness even by listening to the best sermons. I also need other Christians around me who
are “handl[ing] the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) by encouraging me, instructing me, and
counseling me. I also need the books of Christian authors whose writings build me up. Nor is it right
to expect that those outside the church who need to hear and understand the gospel will be reached
only through preaching. I myself found faith not through listening to preaching and speaking but
through books. (Is anyone surprised by that?) We must beware of thinking the Sunday sermon can
carry all the freight of any church’s ministry of the Word.
Yet despite Adam’s rightful warning against overemphasizing preaching in a church’s ministry,
this may not be the church’s greatest danger today. We live in a time when many are resistant to any
hint of authority in pronouncements; so the culture’s allergy to truth and the great skill that is required
mean the church loses its grasp on the crucial nature of preaching for the ministry of the gospel.
Edmund Clowney, in his commentary on 1 Peter 4:10, writes:
It is true that every Christian must handle the word of God with reverence, and
seek the help of the Spirit to make it known to others. Yet there are also those
with special gifts of the Spirit for the preaching . . . of the word of God . . . [with]
a special charge to tend and feed the flock of God ([1 Peter] 5:2). There is some
danger that, in reacting against clericalism, the church may forget the importance
of the ministry of the word of God by those called to be under-shepherds of the
flock.7
Clowney warns us against seeing no qualitative difference between proclaiming the Word in the
gathered assembly and leading a small-group Bible study. The difference between the two goes
beyond ceremonial and logistical matters—it is not just a matter of the number of people present, or
the space to fill, or voice projection and pace. Those who have preached to a congregation know that
there is a qualitative difference as well between the sermon and a study, or even a sermon and a
lecture. A quick survey of the addresses by Peter, Stephen, and Paul in the book of Acts shows the
extraordinary power of preaching when undertaken “as . . . the very words of God” and through the
unique authority that the Spirit of God can bring in a public worshipping assembly.
While we will always require a host of varied forms of Word ministry, the specific public
ministry of preaching is irreplaceable. Adam strikes the balance nicely when he says a church’s
gospel ministry should be “pulpit-centered, but not pulpit-restricted.”8
So there are three levels of Word ministry, and they are all crucial and support one another. The
public preaching of Christ in the Christian assembly (level 3) is a unique way that God speaks to and
builds up people, and it sets up the more organic forms of Word ministry at levels 1 and 2. Likewise,
the skilled and faithful communication at levels 1 and 2 prepares people to be receptive to preaching.
This volume will speak to all those who are wrestling with how to communicate life-changing
biblical truth to people at any level in an increasingly skeptical age. It will also serve as an
introduction and foundation for working preachers and teachers in particular.9