The Preaching of Christ

INTRO

Good morning, friends, we’re so glad you have tuned in to hear God’s Precepts and Promises this morning brought to you by the Rome Church of Christ.

We’re examining Christianity systematically--taking all the Bible has to say on a subject and putting it together as best as possible. Letting the Bible speak

We want to consider the preaching of Jesus

Discussion

The Preaching of Jesus: Authoritative

•The people recognized His authority (Mt 7:28-29; Jn 3:2)

•Teaching was different from the Scribes

–Connected to the ancient teachers

–Rabbi x taught that Rabbi y taught this…

•Jesus spoke authoritatively (Mt 28:18)

•Our teaching must reflect God’s authority (Titus 2:15)

The Preaching of Jesus: Original but Familiar

•Old teaching, placed in new light

•Golden Rule

–Confucius: What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others

–Love your neighbor, as yourself (Lev 19:18)

–Jesus: Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them (Mt 7:12)

•Love

–Greatest commands (Mk 12:29-31)

–Jesus shows what love looks like (Jn 13:34-35)

•Purity

–Job 31:1

–Mt 5:28

•Jesus taught the same basic morals as Moses but in a more brilliant light

ID and Q & A

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Q: Why is preaching so important?

A: The Gospel is God’s power to save man (Rom 1:16). God desired that message to be preached (2 Tim 4:2; Ti 1:3). Without preaching, man would be lost (Rom 10:13-14). God has only one Son, and He was a preacher (Mk 1:38)

The Preaching of Jesus: Connected

•Creator of the universe spoke in simple terms

•Adapted to the common man (Mk 12:37)

•”Put it where the calves can reach it, and the cows will get it too”

When we teach others, we must start where they are

The Preaching of Jesus: Controversial

•Jesus engaged in religious arguments (Mt 21:23-27; 22:23-33)

•Jesus exposed religious error and its proponents (Mt 16:6-11; 23)

•If our teaching is to imitate Christ, we will not back down from controversy

The Preaching of Jesus: Repetitive

•Repeat sermons (Mt 5-7; Lk 6:17-49)

•Repeat sayings

–The Son of Man is come to seek and to save… (Mt 18:11; Lk 19:10

–He that hath an ear, let him hear

•Much value in repetition (2 Pet 1:12)

•The Preaching of Jesus: Repetitive

Here was the wisest of all teachers; in him was no poverty of resources, no shrinking from mental exertion. He must have repeated because it was best to repeat. Freshness and variety are very desirable, no doubt; but the fundamental truths of Christianity are not numerous, and men really need to have them often repeated. And many preachers, carried away by the tendencies of the present age, our furious 19th century, when the chief reading of most people is newspapers and books called emphatically novels, and the καινότερόν τι [something new] of the lounging Athenians pales before the eagerness with which we rush to bulletin boards to catch the yet later news that has just girdled the world, many preachers go wild with the desire for novelty and the dread of repetition, and fall to preaching politics and news, science and speculation, anything, everything, to be fresh. Let the example of the Great Preacher be to us a rebuke, a caution, a comfort. A preacher should be a living man, and strive to get hold of his contemporaries; yet nearly all of the good that preachers do is done not by new truths but by old truths, with fresh combination, illustration, application, experience, but old truths, yea, and often repeated in similar phrase, without apology and without fear.– John Albert Broadus, Lectures on the History of Preaching (New York: Sheldon & Company, 1876), 29-30.

The Preaching of Jesus: Variety

•Though He used repetition, He also used variety

•Spoke in various venues: Mount (Mt 5:1); synagogue (Lk 4:15)

•Spoke in various figures: Parable (Mt 13); hyperbole Mt 5:29)

Our teaching ought to have variety and fit the setting

The Preaching of Jesus: Tone

•Seeking souls but not desperate (Mk 10:21-22)

•Just but compassionate (Jn 8:11)

•Jesus personified His own command: Be wise as serpents and as innocent as doves (Mt 10:16).

CONCLUSION

Sum: Let us learn from the Master Teacher how to approach people, how to teach people, and how to lead lost persons to the Master Himself.

Next Week: Continue thinking about the work of Christ

Until then, We encourage you to hear His precepts and trust His promises