Preach The Word!

Paul wrote to Timothy regarding his duty as a Pastor:

"I 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. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth ......" (2 Tim. 4:1 - 4, NKJV, emphasis added).

Here are some important things to take note of:

1. Notice the solemnity of the charge. It is given in the presence of God and Jesus Christ, in the light of the fact that Christ will judge the living and the dead and in view of His appearing in His Kingdom.

2. The charge is to preach the Word. There is a pressing need and sense of urgency to preach the Word (including the Gospel). The reference to the fact that Jesus will judge the living and the dead indicates the preacher will answer to the Lord for the messages he preaches. It is the preacher's task to preach the Word at all times whether it is convenient or inconvenient to do so. The Word must be preached not only at the appointed time or appointed place in a Church service. The Word must be preached whenever there is still someone willing to hear!

3. A time will come when self-pleasing Christian rebels will no longer endure sound doctrine. They will be looking for preachers who are willing to preach sermons they like to hear and not what they need to hear. It is a warning that not all will receive the truth. Nevertheless, in spite of opposition and criticism, the charge is to preach of Word of God. Paul's charge is not for Timothy alone but for all true Christians - ordained or unordained pastors, full time workers, all preachers and ministers of God's Word.

Sound Teaching of God's Word

The above verses of Scripture are prophetic. In fact Paul's prophecy regarding Christians turning away from hearing the truth of God's Word is being fulfilled now. The fact that sound doctrine needs endurance to accept shows that only unsound man-pleasing doctrine is welcomed! This is the reason why it is extremely difficult to hear uncompromised sound teaching of the Scripture in an average Local Church today.

Notice that when Paul instructed Timothy to preach the Word, he meant exactly that - The Word, the pure and unadulterated Word of God. Timothy must not preach any other things except the truth of God's Word. He must not preach human philosophy, political ideologies, Church politics, denominational preferences or even elaborate doubtful theology.

It was never in the mind of Paul that Timothy has the liberty to abuse God's Word. No preacher or pastor is given the liberty to preach man's "purpose driven" interpretation of the Word which is watered-down and tailored to gratify the itching ears of men to entice them to fill up every pew of the Local Church every Sunday morning.

The Effectiveness of God's Word

Christian ministers need to be reminded of what the Scripture says about the effectiveness of God's Word:

God said, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mounth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11, NKJV).

"Is not My word like a fire?" says the Lord, "and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces" (Jeremiah 23:29)?

The writer of Hebrews said, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints an marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

There is tremendous power in the preached Word of God. Its results are guaranteed. It will not return empty. It will accomplish God's purpose and pleasure. It is like a sharp sword that pierces to the innermost recesses of the human personality and lays bare the secrets of men's hearts and minds.

The same cannot be said about the preaching of man's words or man's compromising interpretation of God's Word!

The Effectiveness of Paul's Ministry

As far as preaching the Word is concerned Paul would never compromise. Acts 19:8 - 10 is an example of the power of the preached Word of God from Paul's ministry in Ephesus:

"And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God" (Acts 19:8).

Read the rest of the verses you'll notice that Paul not only preached the Word in the synagogue for three months but also taught certain disciples daily for two years, intensely and continuously. The result was:

"God did extraordinary miracles through Paul" (Acts 19:11, NIV, emphasis added).

Notice the phrase "extraordinary miracles". This implies that some miracles were ordinary, but the ones that happened here in Ephesus were extraordinary!

In how many of our Churches today do we have even ordinary miracles, let alone extraordinary miracles? Why? The difference between Paul and preachers of today is - Paul did not compromise the truth of God's Word in his preaching, but we do!

What happened to Paul confirms the statement made by Mark:

"And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs" (Mark 16:20, NKJV).

God does not confirm human theories or philosophy or man's gospel. He will, however, confirm His Word.

The Truth of God's Word

The psalmist David understood the truth and authority of God's Word:

"Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven" (Ps. 119:89).

Here David emphasizes that the Bible is not the product of time but of eternity. It contains the eternal mind and full counsel of God, formed before the beginning of time or the foundation of the world. Out of eternity it has been projected through human channels into this world of time. God desires obedient, usable and teachable human channels so that the mind and counsel of God revealed through the Scripture, by preaching, will still stand unmoved and unchanged.

The same thought is expressed by Christ Himself, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matt. 24:35).

Again, David said, "The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever" (Ps. 119:160).

In other words, the Bible is true from Genesis 1:1 right on through to the very last verse of Revelation.

The Word must be Preached without Compromise

The preacher's task is to proclaim the Scripture accurately without compromise and give sense of it and nothing else. We are human channels that God uses to "Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching" (2 Tim. 4:2).

Preaching the Word is not always easy. The message of the cross is far from man-pleasing but is often offensive. Christ Himself is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence (Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:8). The message of the cross is a stumbling block to some, and mere foolishness to others:

"But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:23, 24).

Notice that salvation belongs to the Lord. Salvation is a call of God rather than the choice of man:

Paul said to the Corinthians Church, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9, emphasis added).

A Christian is someone who is called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ. But, he has the freewill to response or not to response to the call of God. If he responses to the call then he is saved. Otherwise he is not a Christian.

Furthermore, Paul said, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase" (1 Cor. 3:6).

In other words, some of us plant and some of us water, but it is God who gives the increase - the increase of saved persons. A pastor might be able to increase the number of Church members, but only God has the power to increase the number of saved persons as Church members! For example, a pastor can start a "church" solely for homosexuals and he would have no difficulty in getting members. Homosexuals would have the best of both "worlds"!

A preacher's mandate is to preach the Word; whether the hearer of the Gospel is finally saved or not is not his problem:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek" (Romans 1:16, emphasis added).

Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. But, preachers who compromise the truth of God's Word are ashamed of the Gospel. These preachers think they know better than God; they think the Gospel is too unacceptable to the natural man and needs to be watered-down to please men. To them, God is too harsh in His Word. Consequently, they fail to exercise the power of God to salvation. Consequently, their hearer's salvation might not be genuine.

Why Preachers compromise the Truth of God's Word?

"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24).

Our God-given ministry is a form of worship to God. Therefore, our ministry must be in spirit and in truth. We cannot serve God effectively with our soul and body unless we are led by the Spirit of God through our regenerated spirit. Please refer to my earlier postings regarding the functions of the Spirit, Soul and Body of the redeemed man.

Paul's ministry was powerful, successful and found pleasing to God because he served God with his spirit.

"For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, ....." (Romans 1:9, emphasis added).

We need to emulate Paul and cease to serve God with our soul (emotion, feelings and sentiment). If we minister with our feelings and emotion we might fear and feel threatened when the Church is not growing and members start to leave. We might imagine, with fear, that we have been preaching messages they would not like to hear. We then come to the conclusion that it is impossible to minister without compromising the Truth of God's Word. That is how we are persuaded to please men.

A Preacher of the Word must not please men

Paul said, "God has not given us the spirit of fear" (2 Tim. 1:7).

Paul also said, "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ" (Gal. 1:10).

The word "now" is used here to contrast between Paul's present and former purpose of life. Before he was converted Paul pleased the high priest by persecuting Christians (Acts 9:1, 2). But now Paul would not please men, for if he still does, he would not be a true Christian (bondservant of Christ)!

Again Paul emphasized, "But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts" (1 Thess. 4:4, emphasis added).

According to Paul those who are entrusted with the gospel should not please men but God. The truth is any preacher who pleases men cannot please God at the same time - it is mutually exclusive. Furthermore God is constantly testing what is in our hearts! He is testing our obedience to preach His Word without compromise!

Possible Consequences of Compromising the Truth of God's Word

1. Fear of men

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers ..... shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8, KJV, emphasis added).

Heading the list of those who are destined to taste the second death are the "fearful"!

2. Failing to do God's Will

At the close of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave this warning:

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matt. 7:21, NKJV, emphasis added).

To compromise the Truth of God's Word in our preaching is NOT the will of God!