Sunday, December 13, 2009
Preaching to the Preachers
(I Peter 5:1-4)
Preachers need preaching too! Along with Peter’s exhortation to pastors in today’s Scripture reading, the New Testament contains several passages specifically addressed to pastors (the Pastoral Epistles, for example). The reason is simple: God’s man needs to know what God expects from his ministry.
Too much of contemporary ministry is geared toward pragmatism. Church growth gimmicks have, in many instances, replaced Bible doctrine as the primary emphasis. And once the emphasis of a ministry ceases to be Scriptural, its character will rapidly disintegrate. Eventually, such ministries abandon the New Testament charter—choosing rather to cater to the whims of worldly-minded professors of religion.
Just where should a preacher place the emphasis? Peter answers succinctly: “feed the flock of God.” Preaching, therefore, is of primary concern. (Drama, worship teams, and entertainment don’t even merit consideration in Peter’s thinking!) For a ministry to be Biblical in character, it must be Biblical on content. Rather than giving subtly apologetic lip-service to a couple verses of Scripture and then preaching anecdotal psychology, preachers should unashamedly and boldly preach God’s Word, verse by verse!
America’s churches would do well to set aside the seeker-sensitive hype and return to solid, studied, Biblical preaching—preaching that grows the flock into maturity and prepares the flock “for the work of the ministry” (Eph. 4:12).
