How God's Sovereignty Impacts the Pulpit and Preaching.

Few doctrines impact the preacher and the task of expository preaching more than the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. But before presenting the many ways this truth impacts the Word preached one first needs to define this eternal attribute of God.

 In his systematic theology Wayne Grudem identifies sovereignty as “God’s exercise of power over creation.”[1] The Prophet Jeremiah says to God, “nothing is too hard for You” (Jer. 32:17).  The angel Gabriel reminds Mary, “With God nothing is impossible” (Luke 1:37), while Jesus Himself adds, “With God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26).

Because God is God he can do “whatever He pleases (Ps. 115:3).” And whatever God wills to happen will happen.[2] Or as R.C. Sproul puts it, “God owns what He makes, and He rules what he owns.”[3] In short, God has the right and the authority and the power to do whatever He so desires. He is the sovereign Creator and Lord of heaven and earth (Psalm 146:6; Acts 17:24; Rev. 4:1-11).

Expository Preaching: the Natural Overflow of Biblical Inerrancy

 

What is biblical inerrancy and how does this doctrinal conviction impact one’s pulpit ministry? 

An inerrantist is someone who believes that the holy Scriptures are divinely inspired and that the original manuscripts of Scripture are free from error.[1] 

 “Inerrancy is the claim that when all facts are known, the Scriptures in their original autographs and properly interpreted will be shown to be without error in all that they affirm to the degree of precision intended, whether that affirmation relates to doctrine, history, science, geography, geology, etc.”[2]

Because the ultimate author of Scripture is the Spirit of truth (see John 16:12-15) we can have complete confidence that God’s Word is pure and perfect (see Psalms 19; 119).  The apostle Peter put it like this, “And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:19-21).  A perfect God could only produce a perfect revelation.

"Peace if Possible, Truth at All Costs"

It was Martin Luther who once said, "Peace if possible, truth at all costs."  Sadly, this reformation quote is counter-cultural today even among the people of truth.  The new mantra for Christians and church leaders is "truth if possible, peace at all costs."

Yet it was Jesus who said, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the TRUTH and the TRUTH shall set you free." (John 8:31-32)

Preaching as Worship

When people ask me to describe my preaching style/emphasis I generally say Text-driven, doxological exposition.  

In other words, the primary goal of many/most of my sermons is 'wonder, love, and praise.'  In this regard the Reformers were right when they suggested that the pastor-teacher is the main 'worship leader' on the Lord's Day.

For pastors I think it would be helpful to rephrase Packer's quote this way, "Any preaching that does not lead to doxology and worship, is at a fundamental level, a flawed sermon."

Shallow Preaching Robs the Saints of Spiritual Riches.

After 95 expository sermons through the first 16 chapters of John's signature gospel the flock at First Baptist finally reached John 17 (the "beloved" chapter in this "beloved" Gospel).  People in our Christian community have suggested to some of our members that it's a mistake to take so much time to study one Gospel or book of the Bible.  Is this a valid criticism?  Should we adopt the preaching methodology of the larger congregations in town?  Are the masses correct?

As I evaluate the evangelical landscape both near and far it seems to me that verse-by-verse preaching is now passé- even in churches that once said they were committed to this methodology. For a season, verse-by-verse, book-by-book, line upon line, precept upon precept (expository) preaching was the flavor of the day in the American evangelical church- those days are gone. I believe the "Young, Restless, Reformed movement will experience a similar fate (when TULIP is no longer trendy and is therefore discarded), but now I digress.

Lighter, "surfacey", sentimental, overview type messages have taken the place of meaty, doctrinal, doxological, text-driven expositions.  I always find it quite ironic that people who say they love listening to Alistair Begg, Paul Washer and John MacArthur on the radio remain at churches where they are being feed more milk than meat, but that's a subject for another blog post.

While reading a selection of sermons from the greatest preacher in the twentieth century (Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones) I observed that Lloyd-Jones himself took an entire year to preach through John 17 alone.  In his commentary the good doctor writes, "We claim that we are so busy that we have not the time to read/study.  We know our forefathers used to read the doctrines, but we have not got the time.  We want it all in a nutshell, and we want to go through the whole gospel of John in one address.  We want a bird's eye view of the whole Bible, and the result is that we miss the doctrine.  But here it is displayed, and because God has displayed it to us here, it is our duty to study it, in order that we may find some of the great possibilities that lie open to us.  It is a tragedy that we tend to live as paupers in the spiritual realm, when God means us to be princes.  But, above all, we study in order that we may assert confidence and a certainty and a steadfastness in our Christian lives." (MLJ, p. 44)

Choosing Your Church: The Ten Things that Matter Most

Choosing your church: The Ten Things that Matter Most
(by Joshua Harris, from Stop Dating the Church: Fall In Love With the Family of God; chapter 5).

Charles Spurgeon: “Do not go where it is all fine music and grand talk and beautiful architecture; those things will neither fill anybody’s stomach, nor feed his soul. Go where the gospel is preached, the gospel that really feeds your soul, and go often.”








What to look for in a local church?  The Ten Things that Matter Most:

The Danger of Avoiding Difficult Texts and Doctrines

Photo Credit: https://www.instagram.com/togetherforthegospel/

When is the last time you heard a really thorough sermon on hell/eternal perdition (Luke 16:19-31, Rev. 20:11-15); marriage, divorce and remarriage (Matthew 19); biblical church discipline (1 Corinthians 5/Mt. 18:15-17); Divine reprobation (Romans 9-10); the Titus 2 mandate (esp. Titus 2:5); the wonder of God's sovereign/unconditional election (Ephesians 1); or the high cost of genuine discipleship (Luke 9:23-27; 14:25-35)?  For some of you its been a long time.




Even among American evangelical churches controversial passages/doctrines (like the sample list above) seem to be neglected with increasing frequency.  To make matters worse quite a few ministries that teach the Scriptures faithfully do not apply the Scriptures consistently (application is often where the rubber really meets the road in the local church).  Am I willing to apply the Scriptures even when it is going to cost me/us something? (Be it your reputation is slandered in the community; disgruntled members church hop to another ministry that will "do church" the way they want it done; your church budget decreases; etc, etc). In reading the pastoral epistles carefully it is crystal clear that Biblical ministry is not for the weak of faith (see Acts 16:13; 2 Timothy 2-3; Joshua 1:8-9)!

How does this slide happen?  It often takes place when verse-by-verse preaching is abandoned as the main diet of the church.  One of the chief dangers about thematic and topical preaching (or "surfacey exposition") is that preachers are able to skip around and avoid passages of Scripture that are deemed too controversial or just not 'applicable' to modern man (contra 2 Timothy 3:15-4:5; Acts 20:20-28).   More and more preachers cater their messages/worship services to the desires of the masses (note 2 Timothy 3:15-4:1-5).  In too many instances size and money is apparently more important than biblical depth and Christian maturity (contra Col. 1:28-29; Eph 4:11-16; Heb. 5:12-14).  

Mark Dever highlights one of the reasons why this approach to ministry (though subtle) is so dangerous.  Avoiding the doctrine of hell (or any other biblical doctrine) is just one step away from denying it altogether.