The Work of Preaching

Introduction

I invite you this morning to please get out the word of God. Get your Bible out, please, and make your way over into your New Testament to the book of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 2. I’m going to read a verse out of 2 Timothy 2 in just a moment. As you turn to 2 Timothy 2, let me just say so good to see all of you this morning. It’s been wonderful singing. Brother Ralph did a great job in the Lord’s Supper talk. Wonderful prayers. It’s just been a wonderful time coming together to grow. Thank you to Jonah for great job reading the scriptures.

It’s been a wonderful opportunity to come together to grow and worship God together. And I do want to remind you, especially the South Bombay folks, that we are officially a week away from our gospel meeting. It starts next Sunday. Brother Roger Shouse will be here from Indiana, and he’s going to be being here from Sunday through Wednesday preaching the word of God. There’re going to be day classes offered Monday through Wednesday from 10:00 to 11:00.

It’s going to be a great opportunity to grow with our families because his sermons have to do with our theme of family serving God. So, it’s a great opportunity to worship God with our families and study the Bible with our families and just hear good preaching from the word of God. In fact, speaking of preaching, look at 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 15. Because here in 2 Timothy chapter 2, Paul is writing to a preacher, a younger preacher. And he says to him in verse 15 in the New American Standard Translation, the Bible renders it this way, “Be diligent Some of your translations say study to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth.”

You only work 2 days a week. You only work 2 days a week. You ever been accused of that before? If you are a full-time teacher or an engineer or a doctor or nurse or a construction worker or a banker or a business person, you ever been accused by anyone of only working 2 days a week? I’m pretty sure that you have never heard anyone accuse you of that before unless you are a preacher. Unless you are a preacher who’s blessed to work with a local church.

Usually preachers are the ones that many people believe only work 2 days a week and this is something that my mentors Max Dawson and David Banning warned me about over 20 years ago. Back in 2006 when I first started preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, my mentors warned me that one of the issues that I would have to grow some thick skin on and be patient with the brethren on was their view on the work of preaching. They warned me that many brethren, unfortunately, have a lot of misunderstandings about the work of a preacher.

They told me that many believe that the work of a preacher only takes place 2 days out of the week, Sunday and Wednesday. They told me that many believe that the bulk of the preacher’s work is done right here behind this pulpit. They told me that some even see the work of a preacher as being the same as the work of a shepherd or an elder. In other words, many believe that it is also the preacher’s job to watch over the souls in the local church.

And to lead, and to guide, and to be intimately involved in the lives of every member of the flock. They also told me that many see preachers as people who’ve been given the primary responsibility of growing the church. In other words, some see the preacher or the preachers as men who need to all need to do all the evangelism in the church. They should be doing all the Bible studies and all the converting, and all the baptizing, and visiting all the sick people, and the attendance numbers should be constantly increasing because that’s what we’re paying them to do.

And then, they also told me that there are some folks who believe that it’s the preacher’s job to solve all the problems in the church. It’s the preacher’s job to solve all the attendance problems. And all the edification problems, and the marriage problems, and the parenting problems, and the young people problems, and any sin problems in the church. Those are just a few examples of how some people view the work of preaching and a preacher. The question though is is what about you?

What about you? What about you in your life right now? Right now in your life. How do you view the work of preaching and a preacher? I want us to think about that. And it’s this morning for a couple of different reasons. First, I want us to think about the work of preaching and a preacher because that’s that’s not something we’ve talked about yet. That’s not something we’ve talked about in this series we’ve been engaged in for the last few weeks yet.

While during the month of August, we did have a sermon about the work of elders or shepherds. And we had a sermon about the work of deacons, and we had a sermon about the work of sisters in the church and even senior saints in the church. We haven’t yet had a sermon about this. We haven’t yet talked about this, the work of preaching, even though here at South Bumby, that work’s big deal to us. That work is very very important to us. I mean, think about it.

The work of preaching takes up a significant portion of time when we gather together to worship on Sunday. And think about how here with the Lord’s money, as brother Ralph just said, two preachers, myself and brother J.R., are supported locally, finan- financially. And this church also uses the Lord’s money to support other preachers around this country and around the world. And here we promote preaching on YouTube and Facebook and our website. Preaching is a big part of what we do here at South Bumby.

And you add to that how throughout the Bible, we learn that some of the most famous and well-known servants of God were preachers. Take for example Noah. And in 2 Peter 2 and verse 5, Noah is called a preacher of righteousness. You know what that means? That means that as he was building that ark that would preserve both he and his family, he was preaching. He was preaching the word of God. Noah was a preacher, and so were so was also Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Micah, and the other Old Testament prophets.

They were preachers. And the apostles were preachers. And John the Baptist was a preacher. And of course, the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, he was a preacher. Some of the most well-known servants of God in the Bible were preachers. And then you add to that how three New Testament books in our Bibles are written to preachers, and describes in detail how they are to perform their works. And then you add to that how throughout the book of Acts, we find men who were not apostles, people like Philip and Stephen, who were preachers.

And then going back to Romans 10, verses 14 through 15, where our scripture reading came from this morning, we learn that it is through preaching that God has selected to get his message to the world. Throughout the Bible, we learn the same thing. We learn that preaching matters. Preaching is important. Preaching is a really big deal. The question though is is what exactly does it does it involve? What exactly is attached to that responsibility?

1. Diligently Studying the Word of God

I mean, if elders or shepherds or supposed to lead and feed and oversee a local flock? And if deacons are to lead an assigned task in the local church, what exactly is involved in the work of preaching? Well, I submit to you that there are several things involved in the work of preaching. And the first thing we need to focus on is studying. Diligently studying the word of God. That’s why we started our lesson reading from 2 Timothy 2 and verse 15.

Going back to 2 Timothy 2 and verse 15, Paul there is writing to a preacher. And he tells this preacher Timothy that if he’s going to be effective in his work as a preacher, he needs to study. He needs to study the word of God. He needs to study hard. He needs to study long. He needs to read, process, think, truly understand the message he wants to preach to other people. He needs to understand that he cannot effectively help other people know the word of God if he himself doesn’t first know the word of God.

That’s what Paul is telling Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 15. And you add to that what Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 4. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4 and in verse 16. We’re going to be a lot in the preaching epistles. We’re going to be a lot in 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy especially this morning. And in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and in verse number 16. In verse 16, Paul says to this preacher, “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for as you do, this will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”

So, notice very carefully what Paul says here about the work of a preacher. Notice how he distinguishes the work of a shepherd from the work of a preacher. Notice how while a shepherd or an elder is given the commandment from King Jesus to pay close attention to the flock, the preacher is given a commandment to pay close attention to himself and the message he’s preaching. He’s given the commandment to pay close attention to the word. That means he must devote a lot of time to studying the word and learning the word and growing in the word and meditating on the word and praying about the word.

2. A Preacher Must Preach the Word

He must be a man who is a deep student of the word because he must preach the word. He has to faithfully preach the word. And the Bible says that in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse starting verse 1. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1 Paul says this to a preacher. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing in his kingdom. Verse 2. Preach the word.

Preach the word. Be ready in season and out season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. For wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you be sober in all things. Endure hardship. Do the work of an evangelist.

Fulfill your ministry. Notice what the work of preaching involves. Do you see it? Notice how the work of preaching involves preaching but not preaching speculation. Not preaching what a man thinks is right or what he hopes is right or what is popular and tolerant in society and what he thinks people want to hear. No, the scripture says that a preacher must preach the word. He must preach the truth. He must preach the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is the charge given to a preacher by the Holy Spirit through the scriptures. The Holy Spirit charges a preacher to preach the word, not make it his responsibility to grow the church. That is not the job of the preacher to grow the church. A preacher should not make it his mission to grow the church. He should not make it his mission to fill the pews and the collection plate. He should not make it his mission to solve all the problems in the church or even convert and baptize so many people in a year.

No, God charges a preacher to preach. That’s what you do. You preach. You preach the word. You proclaim the word. You do your best to fire up people with the word of God and inspire them from the word of God to love the Lord with all their heart. That’s the job of a preacher. And I’m going to tell y’all something. There have been times when I’ve had to remind myself of that. There have been times when I have found myself preaching somewhere, preaching in a gospel meeting, preaching in a lectureship, and after I’m done preaching, the after the invitation song, someone will come up to me and they’ll ask me if I’m discouraged.

They’ll say, “Are you discouraged? Are you discouraged because you just spent 30 to 40 minutes preaching this sermon with all your energy, and nobody responded? Nobody came down the aisle and said, ‘I want to get right with God.’ NOBODY CAME AND SAID, ‘I WANT TO BE BAPTIZED.’ Sometimes they say, ‘Well, if I wasn’t a Christian, I would have came forward and got baptized after that.’ Aren’t you discouraged?” I’ve had people ask me that on many occasions, and while it would be great if after every sermon somebody came during the invitation song and said, “I want to give my life to Jesus.

I want to be baptized for the forgiveness of my sins.” Well, it would be great if people did that after every single sermon. The fact of the matter is, according to the Bible, that’s not my job. My job, the job of a preacher, is not to convert. It’s not to force people to serve Jesus. It’s not to force people into the baptistery. No, the Bible says the job of a preacher is to preach the word. It is to be a sower and a planter of the seed, which is the word of God.

3. Ready; Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort With Great Patience

You plant that seed in people’s hearts, and if they respond with obedience to that message, God gets the glory because it is his word that is converting them. And if they reject that message, they’re ultimately rejecting God because the message the preacher is preaching comes from God. It’s not his message. It’s about the Lord always. A preacher must faithfully preach the word. And while he does that, Paul says, going back to verse two of 2 Timothy 4, he’s got to always be ready.

He’s got to be ready in season. He’s got to be ready out of season. What does Paul mean when he says, “You got to preach the word in season and out of season?” Well, what that means is a preacher it has to always be committed to doing the work God has given him to do. He’s got to be willing to preach the truth when it’s convenient and when it’s not convenient. He’s got to be willing to proclaim God’s will for people’s lives, whether they want to hear that or not.

He’s got to tell people not what they may want to know, but what God wants them to know so they can be right with God. Preaching involves always being ready. Being in season, being out of season, and then also using the word of God to reprove. Do you see that word reprove there? What does that word reprove mean? Well, the idea of reproving means to correct. To correct people. To use the word of God to cause people to examine their hearts and their lives and urge them to reform their lives if their lives are outside of God’s will.

Preaching involves using the word of God to reprove. And it also involves using the word of God to rebuke. You see that word rebuke? The idea of rebuke means that a preacher has to use the word of God to urge people to stop doing wrong if they’re doing wrong. He has to use the word of God to urge people to stop sinning if they are sinning. Stop rebelling against God if they are rebelling against God. A preacher must use the word of God to reprove and to rebuke.

And also, if you keep looking at that verse, to exhort. What does that word exhort mean? Well, that means to encourage. That means to entreat passionately, to build people up with the word of God. While the gospel of Jesus Christ can certainly pierce and it can convict people, it can also encourage people. It can comfort people. It can build us up and give us hope. A preacher must use the word of God to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort, and as he does those things, he has to understand that preaching involves patience.

It involves great patience. It involves understanding that a congregation is made up of people who are so different from each other. Because a congregation is made up of people from different races and backgrounds and cultures and genders and political ideologies and even levels of education, he must patiently help the brethren. He must patiently help the brethren grow. He must patiently teach and challenge the brethren. He must patiently urge the brethren to be tolerant of the differences they may have among them they have nothing to do with scripture.

A preacher has to reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience. And I think if we could sum all this up, we could just say this. A preacher has to be balanced. Do you see that? It’s got to be balanced. He’s got to give people a well-balanced diet of the word of God. He’s got to give people some Old Testament. He’s got to give them some New Testament. He’s got to give them some milk. He’s got to give them some meat. He’s got to give them teachings about love and faith and grace and how wonderful heaven’s going to be and he’s also got to give them teaching about Bible authority and about repentance and godly morality and holiness and the dangers of false teaching and the reality of hell.

4. Preaching Involves Focus

He has to help God’s people stretch their minds and open their eyes to the truth and as brother D. Bowman used to say about preaching, use the word of God to storm their will. That’s what good preaching does. It storms the will. A preacher has to faithfully preach the word. And as he does that, he’s got to stay focused. Preaching involves focus. Focus on what? Focus first and foremost on God. Focus first on Jesus and how a preacher works first for Jesus, not for a local church.

Focus on the word of God and the ministry and the goal of preaching. What’s the goal of preaching? Well, the goal of preaching is not to help people get rich in this life and live their best life now. The goal of preaching is not to preach so you can get compliments or so you can build up your self-esteem or so you can draw a paycheck because you don’t want to work in the secular world. No, the goal of preaching is to help people. It’s to help people go to heaven.

It’s to point people to Jesus and help them learn Jesus love Jesus and serve Jesus. It’s to help lost people come to Jesus and challenge those who are already serving Jesus to grow and be better for the Lord. That’s the goal of preaching. It’s not to aim for people’s toes. Sometimes people say say to me, “You stepped on my toes.” Well, I didn’t do my job. Cuz the goal of preaching is not to step on toes, it’s to get to hearts. We want hearts, not toes.

We aim for hearts. We aim for the part within people that will lead to real reformation and change. Look back at 2 Timothy chapter 4, look at verse 5, please. You see verse 5? Because in verse number 5, the Apostle Paul used some language that will highlight this point we we have right now, this point about focus. Notice how in verse number 5, Paul talks about being sober. Do you see that? A preacher must be sober in all things. What does that mean? That means he must be alert.

That means he must be clear-minded. He’s got to be somebody who has his priorities straight. He’s got to be sober in all things and also notice how he can’t be a quitter. He can’t be someone who’s always trying to run and hide and duck and dodge from his responsibility. Instead, he must persevere and endure hardship. And notice, he must do the work. Do you see that there? He must do the work of who? He must do the work of a preacher. He must do the work of an evangelist, not the work of shepherd.

Shepherds got their own work to do. Not the work of deacons. Deacons got their own work to do. Not the work that God has given you to do and for try to fulfill the responsibilities that God has given to every Christian. No, the scripture says a preacher must do his work. He’s got to do the work of an evangelist. He’s got to fulfill or complete his ministry. He has to study, he has to learn, he has to do his best to preach the truth to as many people as he can.

5. Preaching Involves Love

Got to stay focused. Stay focused on God. Stay focused on his ministry. And then, a part of preaching, the work of preaching involves love. A preacher has to be a man of love. Preaching involves loving God and loving people. Loving all people. Loving all of God’s people. Loving to be around God’s people and working with God’s people. Loving the lost because, guess what? God loves them, too. We learn that in John 3:16, right? Most well-known verse in the Bible, for God so loved the world.

That’s everybody. That he gave his only begotten son, that he who believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Second Peter chapter 3 and verse 9, Peter says it is not God’s will that any should perish, but for all to come to repentance. God wants everybody to be saved. God loves everybody. God gave Jesus to die for everyone, and a gospel preacher who’s trying to serve the Lord, he’s got to have a heart like God. He’s got to love all people like God.

He’s got to love those who are part of the family of God and those who are not part of God’s family. He must love homosexuals. He must love those who identify as transgenders. He must love those who’ve had abortions. And people who’ve committed murder and abused themselves with drugs, and poor people, homeless people, dirty people, criminal people who have criminal backgrounds. People who are even atheists and agnostic, and they’re Muslims and Buddhists.

6. The Work of Preaching Involves Living It

A preacher must love everyone, because if he doesn’t, he won’t fulfill his ministry. He won’t be effective in his work. He won’t be compelled to be like Jesus and preach to all people. He won’t be compelled to obey the Lord and go into the all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He won’t preach the truth in love, as Paul said in Ephesians 4 and verse 15. A preacher must love God and love all people. But let me add one more thing here. The work of preaching also involves living it.

Doing your best to live the message that you’re preaching. We We would say it this way, practicing what you preach. Trying to apply the message you’re preaching into your life before you try to apply it to other people’s lives. Look in your Bible, please, at 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Look at verse number 5. In 2 Timothy chapter 1 and in verse number 5, Paul says to Timothy here, “For I am mindful of the sincere faith in you.” Some of your translations render that genuine faith. Which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I’m sure it’s in you as well. Notice that language, sincere faith, genuine faith.

Timothy had that. That means he was the real deal. He wasn’t a fraud and a phony and a fake. He didn’t get up in front of God’s people and in front of lost people preaching the word of God, but then live a different way once he got away from those people. He was genuine. He had an authentic faith. He lived the message. Now, go back to 1 Timothy. Look at chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Look at verse 12. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 12. Because Paul says this to the preacher, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example.

Rise above it. Live the message you’re preaching. Show yourself an example of those who believe.” That’s what the preacher should do. You live You live it. You preach the truth, you live the truth. Drop down to verse 16 again. Verse 16 of the same chapter. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for as you do this, a preacher must do what he’s preaching, you will ensure salvation for both yourself and for those who hear you.

Do you see the message that’s found over and over again? It’s everywhere. When a man devotes his life to preaching the word of God, he must strive to live according to the same standard he’s telling other people to live by. He’s got to strive to have integrity in every part of his life. He can’t tell other people it’s wrong to gossip, but then he’s a gossip himself. He can’t tell God’s people about the need for unity and peace, but then he’s actively trying to start a faction in the church or take the flock away from the shepherds.

He can’t preach about the need to be faithful to your spouse while the same time having an affair. Or telling people it’s wrong, it’s a sin to drink and lust and curse and you need to have self-control in your life while the same time he’s not living by that standard himself. A man, a preacher must live the message he’s preaching because if he doesn’t, the world is going to call him a hypocrite. God’s going to know he’s a hypocrite. The people of God that he’s blessed to work with, they’re going to become discouraged and he’s not going to have much influence among them as he does the work of God.

Conclusion

Now now these are just some of the works of a preacher {slash} evangelist and I know I know that the vast majority of you here this morning are not preachers. I know that. I know that 98% of the people in this room don’t preach on a full-time basis and so maybe you sit there and wonder what does a sermon about the work of preachers have to do with me? How is that going to help me? In what way does this kind of sermon challenge me as someone who has to hear preaching every single week in my worship to God.

What should you do in response to the work of a preacher? Well, I believe that this kind of sermon about the work of preaching challenges the hearers of preaching to ask themselves two important questions. And the first question is what do you want to hear? What do you want to hear? I ask you that because go back to 2 Timothy. Remember those verses we skipped over in verses 3 and 4? 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 3, 2 Timothy 4 and verse 3. After Paul tells Timothy to preach the word and be ready in season and out of season, in verse 3 he says, “This is why you need to do that.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.” As you try to digest those verses and really think about them, let me ask you something. Do you want those verses to be applied to you? You want those verses to be applied to you? Do you want to be in this group of people?

Do you want to be among those who were numbered with the vast majority in the religious world who can’t endure sound doctrine, but they only want to have their ears tickled and hear a portion of God’s word? Is that who you want to be? Or do you want to be someone who wants to hear the whole counsel of God as Paul says he preached in Acts 20 in verse 27? Do you want to be someone who will hear preaching that will convict you and stir you and challenge you?

Do you want to be someone who hears preaching that will challenge you to serve and be active and be involved in the work of a local church and not just fill a pew on Sunday? Do you want to hear preaching that proclaims the truth about controversial issues in our society today? Issues like what the Bible says about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. And homosexuality, and church discipline, and Bible authority, and how we need to be holy and godly, and better spouses, and better parents, and how we need to dress decently and modestly, and how we need to let go of grudges, and avoid being bitter, and jealous, and hateful, and unforgiving.

A sermon about preaching challenges the hearers to ask themselves, “What do I want to hear? What kind of preaching do I want to hear? And then secondly, what am I going to do?” What are you going to do with the with the preaching? Go in your Bible to one more place, please, to James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Because in James chapter 1, James has this to say. And in verse number 21, in James 1 and verse 21, James says, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all the remains of wickedness, in humility, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, and once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But the one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Notice how here we see some things about hearing preaching. Here we see that it is not enough for people to merely read the Bible and study the Bible and hear preaching from the Bible. No, they must also apply the Bible. They must also obey the Bible, do the Bible. People preaching the truth from the Bible doesn’t do any person any good if they don’t apply it to their lives. That’s what James is saying there. And again, you know what that shows us? That shows us the job of a preacher is really pretty simple.

A preacher has to study. And he’s got to prepare, and he’s got to pray, and he’s got to preach the truth [snorts] from God’s word with love and tell people exactly how to apply it to their lives, but what they do with it after that, that’s not on him. That’s not on the preacher. That’s out of his control what people do with the preaching. The preacher can’t make people obey God. They must decide to do that themselves. They must decide to do what God says in His word.

What I just want you to see is learning what the Bible says about the work of preaching challenges the hearers. It challenges hearers of preaching to ask themselves important questions. And before we go into our invitation, I just want to tell you something, and I think I can speak for brother J.R. as well when I say this. We are blessed. We are truly blessed as preachers. We’re blessed to work with the eldership. We’re blessed to work with this church who financially supports us and encourages us.

So, we can devote our time to studying and preparing lessons and classes and studying with non-Christians and new converts and writing articles and praying and doing so many other things that we hope brings glory to God and helps as many people as we can go to heaven. Brothers and sisters, there are many different avenues God could have chosen to inform the world about salvation found in his son Jesus, but he chose to do it through preaching. Preaching is how people hear the word of God. And maybe there’s somebody here this morning who needs to respond to the word of God. Maybe you need to respond for the first time after hearing preaching from the scriptures, you’re ready to respond with faith and repentance and confession of Jesus as Lord and being baptized for your gift for the forgiveness of your sins, or if you were a Christian and you’ve done those things and maybe you’ve wandered away.

Maybe you need to repent and come back home to your father. There’s any If there’s anyone here this morning who needs to respond not to the preacher, but to the preaching of God’s word. This song is for you. Come to the front. Let’s stand. Let’s sing together.