A New Series

Pastor Dave began a new sermon series this morning based on the booklet "Nine Marks of a Healthy Church" by Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. (You may have noticed that I have a link to 9 Marks, and this booklet can be obtained free of charge at their website.) The first mark of a healthy church is expositional preaching, which Dever describes as "preaching whose object is to expound what is said in a particular passage of Scripture, carefully explaining its meaning and applying it to the congregation." (p. 11) It is simply an explanation and application of a particular portion of God's Word. The pastor is really of servant of the text, letting Scripture speak for itself as the story of redemptive history throughout the Old and New Testaments.

In contrast to expositional preaching is topical preaching, which Dever says "takes a subject and talks about it, rather than taking a particular text of the Bible as its subject. The topical sermon begins with a particular matter that the preacher wants to preach about...Having established the topic, the preacher then assembles various texts from various parts of the Bible and combines them with illustrative stories and anecdotes. The material is combined and woven around this one topic." (pp. 39-40) In this case, the pastor uses the text to put forth his own views and agenda, rather than letting God's Word speak for itself.

Pastors have a biblical mandate to ensure the centrality of the Word to our worship services. In II Timothy 4:1-5, the Apostle Paul gives this charge to Timothy: "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, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill you ministry." A church should not see themselves as catering to consumers, as is the common trend. Rather, a pastor should view himself as an ambassador for Christ, speaking His truth, in order for the Holy Spirit to bring change to the minds, wills, and behavior of the hearers. The Word properly taught will cause us to examine our own obedience to the Word, convict us of sin, and exhort us to changed behavior. It is indeed a high-calling for the man of God.