Final Instructions: Do Not Despise Preaching

A couple of years ago the George Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, listed 12 individuals they named as the most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. For some unexplained reason I was not on the list. Who was?

Dr. Alistair Begg is the Senior Pastor at Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Tony Evans pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Joel C. Gregory who holds the George W. Truett Endowed Chair in Preaching and Evangelism at George W. Truett Theological Seminary.

Dr. Timothy Keller recently retired pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, New York.

Dr. Thomas G. Long is Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Emory University.

Dr. Otis Moss III is the pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. John Piper is the chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Dr. Haddon Robinson was the Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Pastor Andy Stanley is the senior pastor of North Point Community Church, Atlanta, GA.

Dr. Charles Swindoll is a pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher.

Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcopal priest, professor, author, and theologian.

Dr. Ralph Douglas West serves as pastor of The Church Without Walls in Houston, Texas.

The vast majority of pastors labor in obscurity — and always have. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there are 53,180 full-time clergy in America. That number does not reflect non-ordained lay-pastors, or bi-vocational pastors, and so the actual number of pastors in America is certainly higher. What do we know about these men? And yes, most — 87% — are still men. The average pastor is 57 years old. Less than 5% are age thirty or younger — which does not bode well for the future of the church, especially smaller rural congregations. Half of us have a Bachelors degree, and a third of us have a Masters degree. Most pastors serve in congregations that average 100 members and average 65 in attendance. The average stay at a church for a senior pastor is about four years. Unfortunately, this constant leaving makes churches doubt pastors. Small churches feel like they are stepping stones to larger churches. Catholic sermons are the shortest, at a median of just 14 minutes (Many priests believe that the homily, shouldn't distract from the Eucharist.), compared with 25 minutes for mainline Protestant sermons and 39 minutes for evangelical Protestant sermons, according to the study. Historically black Protestant churches have the longest sermons by far: A median of 54 minutes. A median sermon in American pulpits runs 37 minutes.

The really good news for pastors is that three quarters of worshipers say sermons are a major factor in why they go to church.

The bad news is that pastors understand that preaching is the most important part of their calling, but perhaps the hardest part of the job. The demands of preaching have humbled even some of the greatest pastors. The late Rev. Gardner Taylor, was known as "the dean of American preaching." He was a Black American Baptist preacher, who was pastor of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn 42 years. He made the Baylor list in 1996. Taylor described preaching as "the sweet torture of Sunday morning." He said "I go through a dreadful time on Sunday mornings getting ready to preach. Sometimes I pass laborers on my way to church and wish I were doing anything except having to come over here and get into that pulpit again.”

Every pastor knows the elation of when a sermon held the congregation in rapt fascination. They were with you and you could see it and “feel” it. On the other hand, every pastor also knows the deflation of when a message falls like a wounded duck tumbling from the sky.

In these final instructions, Paul now tells the believers at Thessalonica “Do not despise prophecies.” Literally he tells them to stop treating the revealed truth of God in a contemptuous way. As the Apostle arrives at this particular injunction he chastises those believers who have, for some reason, become contemptuous, not of the preacher, but of the messages delivered by the preacher. This command gives us an opportunity to look at preaching from both the preacher’s and the congregation’s point of view.

I. WHAT PASTORS OWE THEIR CONGREGATIONS

1. what do pastors preach so that the people of God do not despise the message?

A. 1st, PREACH THE BIBLE

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, ESV)

1. the bible's primary purpose is as a book of revelation

a. it is meant to introduce you to God

b. it tells us of our problem with sin and rebellion

c. it tells us of God's wrath against sin, but also of His love for the sinner

d. it tells us of His plan for our life in Christ

2. the pastor owes it to his people to exposit the word of God

a. the Pastor is not a movie critic

1) his text is not to be Paramount, Sony, Universal, Disney or Warner Brothers

2) modern media may serve up memorable illustrations, but should be used only to underscore the truth of Scripture

3) my calling is to preach the Word of the Lord, not to spend thirty minutes describing a movie scene or TV episode and then provide two minutes of nebulous spiritual application

b. the Pastor is not a political pundit

1) the Bible has something to say about every area of life

God has an opinion about government and the politicians who run governments, and how we are to treat them

God has an opinion about economics and trade, and your vocation within the economy

God has an opinion about justice – both social justice and criminal justice

God has an opinion about education

God has an opinion about raising children

God has an opinion about caring for senior citizens

God has an opinion about money and investments and stewardship

God has an opinion about sex and sexuality, and gender

God has an opinion about entertainment, and the arts

God even has an opinion about how to eat, and how to drink, and how to dress

2) the pastor’s job is to give God’s opinion about all these things and not the platform or agenda of any particular political party

c. the Pastor is not a stand up comedian

ILLUS. Now, I’ll be honest with you; one of the funniest things to watch is a pastor trying to be funny, but who’s not naturally funny, but doesn’t know he’s not funny.

1) used correctly, humor is the perfect ingredient to keep a congregation’s attention while the preacher takes them deeper into the biblical text

2) but being funny for the sake of being funny is not the pastor’s calling

3. the modern pastor is expected to be ...

an ambassador of the church to the community

an administrator and overseer of church business and programs and personnel

a performer of rites of passage such as baptism, weddings, and funerals

a care giver, counselor, and comforter

but first, and foremost, he is to preach and teach the Bible!

B. 2nd, PREACH THE BIBLE IN BALANCE

1. if the Bible is inspired, infallible, and authoritative — and it certainly is — then everything in the Bible is given for our instruction and edification

a. in his 1st letter to the Christians at Corinth, Paul refers back to Israel’s history of disobedience and grumbling during their wilderness wanderings

“We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” (1 Corinthians 10:9–11, ESV)

b. everything in the Bible — from Genesis to the maps in the index — are written down for our instruction

2. one of the best ways to do that is to preach expositionally through books of the Bible

a. in other words, the minister should take a verse or a passage of the Bible, explain it’s meaning, and then provide some application to the Christian’s life

b. and when we do that, it forces us to preach on a wide variety of topics, and issues that we might neglect if we just preached our favorite topics

ILLUS. I’ve known pastors throughout my career who would never touch sensitive topics like divorce, abortion, predestination, and the LGBTQ agenda. Today we have pastors who refuse to say a word about gluttony, but they will wax eloquent on global warming.

3. preaching the Bible in balance means preaching from both the Old and New Testaments

a. it means preaching from the Gospels and Genesis, from the Minor Prophets and the Pastoral Epistles, from the Old Testament apocalypse of Daniel to the New Testament apocalypse of Revelation

b. it means preaching to teach, to reprove, to correct, and to edify

4. and let me be frank, if you want to hear the Bible preached in balance, then you need to attend worship on Sunday evenings as well as Sunday mornings

ILLUS. It has been over a decade ago, and I had just finished preaching a series of Easter messages, which means I was in the New Testament. After the service, I was conversing with one of our church members ... just chit-chatting. They mentioned that they had really enjoyed the series of Easter messages I had preached. Then, almost as an afterthought that person said, “You don’t preach much out of the Old Testament, do you?” I didn’t say a word. I just opened my bible, took out my bulletin and pointed to the Sunday evening sermon title — it was from Isaiah ... which at that point I’d been preaching through for over a year, and still had a year left. That member got a sheepish grin on their face and simply said, “My bad.”

C. 3rd, STUDY THE BIBLE TO PREACH IT WELL

1. John Owen, the greatest preacher of 17th century England, wrote, “The first and principle duty of a pastor is to feed the flock by diligent preaching of the word. He is no pastor who doth not feed his flock.”

a. just prior to his ascension, Jesus commanded Peter to feed my flock (John 21:17)

1) for Own, there was no higher priority (or privilege) in ministry

b. the most important job of any pastor is being a student of the Scriptures so that he might provide a well-balanced spiritual diet for his congregation

2. the pastor who will not study the Bible is short-changing his congregation

ILLUS. Some years ago at the annual meeting of our local Baptist association of churches, the pastor who had been invited to preach the annual message, at one point bragged that he had never studied for a sermon in his life. He just got up on Sunday mornings, let his bible fall open and stuck his finger on a text. Whatever the text was, that was his message for the service. I didn’t know whether to feel jealous or horrified, because I study all the time, and still preach sermons where I don’t feel like I’ve done the text justice.

a. there is simply no way to preach certain books of the Bible without immense and intense study of the Bible

b. the preacher whose typical sermon consists mostly of home-spun tales and a collection of stale preacher-jokes with a smattering of Bible sprinkled in here and there is a disgrace to his profession — it is spiritual melfeasance

ILLUS. As the 6th-century church father Gregory put it this way: "Scripture is like a river ... shallow enough ... for the lamb to go wading, but deep enough ... for the elephant to swim." All of you know how to go wading in the Bible. You don’t need any help from me to do that. The Pastor’s responsibility is to help you swim in the Bible ... yea, verily to even do a high dive into it.

3. if a preacher is going to preach the Bible well, a preacher has got to study the Bible well

D. 4TH, PREACH THE BIBLE TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY

1. good delivery is in the eye of the beholder, and every congregant has their own idea of what makes for a “sermon good” — a well-delivered sermon

2. the best advise I ever got about preaching was from my preaching professor at Southwest Baptist College — “Preach to your people as their pastor, not a conference speaker”

a. you don’t have to be the most eloquent ... you don’t have to be the most polished ... you do have to be authentically you

b. sermon delivery is the most exciting part of preaching, and the scariest ... Preachers are the only public speakers in the world who are expected to stand on the stage, rip open their chest and reveal their heart to the congregation

3. the thing that will make the most difference in a pastor’s preaching is to make sure their congregation knows that their pastor loves them and care about them

E. 5th, LIVE THE BIBLE YOU’RE PREACHING (not perfectly, but consistently)

1. every preacher needs to include himself as part of the audience — God calls every preacher to live what he preaches

a. few congregants will expect their pastor to live the Bible perfectly, but they ought to expect that he live consistently what he preaches to them

b. Peter cautioned his fellow pastors not to lord it over those entrusted to you, but be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3)

2. Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers “Do not despise preaching” — the pastor has a role and a responsibility in helping the congregation to delight in preaching

a. that means preaching with a zeal for God’s glory, and a compassion for God’s children

b. ahh ... but the congregation has a responsibility, too

II. WHAT CONGREGATIONS OWE THEIR PASTORS

1. Jesus told his listeners that it matters how we hear the Word

“Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”” (Luke 8:18, ESV)

A. 1st, LISTEN DEMANDINGLY

1. if the Bible is our only source for faith and practice, then a congregation must demand that their pastor preach the Bible

ILLUS. J. C. Ryle, the Anglian Bishop of Liverpool, England from 1880-1900, was a paragon of biblical orthodoxy and one of the most important leaders in the entire history of the Church of England in the evangelical tradition. In one of his most important books entitled Knots Untied, he defined the evangelical faith. He began with the first principle, the first leading feature he said of evangelical Christianity, "The absolute supremacy it assigns to Holy Scripture, as the only rule of faith and practice, the only test of truth, and the only judge of controversy."

2. the Word of God, inculcated into your life, is the instrument that will change your life

a. it will change your eternal destiny

b. it will change your earthly priorities

B. 2nd, LISTEN ATTENTIVELY

ILLUS. Some of you remember Bill McGlowen. He moved to Linn to attend the Tech school and major in avionics. He was 78 years old when he began classes. He was here every Sunday ... sitting on the aisle third pew forward from the back. For years every Sunday after church he told me the same thing as he shook my hand, “Great sermon pastor!” Now, those of you who knew Bill know that the chances are good, that he probably never heard one of my sermons. As soon as the music was over, he was sound asleep. I appreciated his enthusiasm all the same. I was always tempted to ask him, “Bill, which part did you like the best?”

1. listening to sermons involves far more than clocking up time staying awake during preaching

a. it means being spiritually prepared to listen

b. there is a reason, that throughout the history of the Church, the sermon has been the last major event in the worship order

1) the singing, and the fellowship, and the prayer, and the offering, and the Scripture reading are all meant to prepare our hearts and ready our minds for what theologians call the preaching event

2. listening attentively means praying for the preaching event

a. the preaching event begins in a pastor’s study, but is undergirded by the congregation’s prayers pleading with the Holy Spirit to fill the pastor’s heart and mind so that the message will teach, move, challenge, and delight the congregation

3. listening attentively means actually be present for the preaching event

“So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”” (Acts 10:33, ESV)

a. now, I have absolutely nothing against listening to TV preachers, or a sermon podcast on the internet, or your favorite You Tube channel

1) for those who have a disability they are a God-send

2) some churches would not have survived COVID were it not for live-streaming

b. but there is no substitute for one’s personal presence when the Word is preached

1) in America today we all breath in the cultural air of anti-commitment

a) it’s so easy to drift in and out, sitting on the edge as spectators

2) irregular attendance atrophies our spiritual heart-muscles so that when we do hear a sermon in person, we are much less prepared to respond

a) consistent gathering with your covenant family is important

4. listening attentively means listening with expectation and longing to hear a word from God

a. do you really believe that God can speak through a mere mortal?

b. in the mystery of His will, God has decreed that through preaching lives are changed

“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”” (Romans 10:13–15, ESV)

ILLUS. Some sermons have been used by God to actually change history. Jonathan Edwards preached, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, and within months all of New England was ablaze in a revival that so changed America that we call it the First Great Awakening. In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream sermon on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It called on America live up to its creed that “all people are created equal” and it was instrumental in persuading Congress to pass 1964 Civil Rights Act. His words were instrumental in ending systemic racism in America.

C. 3rd, TO LISTEN DISCERNINGLY

1. when we compare what we hear in sermons with what Scriptures says, we are listening discerningly

a. we have an example of this in the Book of Acts concerning Paul’s preaching

“The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:10–11, ESV)

b. translation? Make sure the preacher says what the passage says

2. part of a congregation’s responsibility is to assure that they’ve not invited a wolf into their pulpit

D. 4th, LISTEN COMMITEDLY

1. it is not enough to listening with a longing to hear a word from God ... you’ve got to be open and willing to act when you hear God’s voice speaking during the preaching event

2. listening committedly means guarding your heart

a. Paul, in one of his letters to his preacher protégée’, Timothy, warned him that a “ ... time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,” (2 Timothy 4:3, ESV)

ILLUS. Remember the VBS Pledge to the Bible? I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s holy word. I will make it a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path, and will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God. These words, while simple enough for children to understand, are deep enough to stick with them throughout their lives. It’s a pledge that Christian children have been reciting for 100 years!

b. it’s a pledge to actually take the Word of God as the only source for our faith and practice even when it calls us to hard things or to a way of life that is at odds with the culture

c. all over America there are professing Christians, indeed entire denominations, who have reneged on that simple, but profound, pledge

1) behaviors that were thoroughly condemned by the church a generation ago are now openly practiced by the church

2) when a significant number of believers in a local congregation abandon the clear teachings of the Scriptures they will, according to Paul, call teachers and preachers to suit their own passions

III. APPLICATION

1. when Paul calls for the Thessalonian believers not to despise biblical preaching he’s calling them to hold to the truth of God’s revelation in the Scriptures, and be on guard against erroneous the teachings of their culture

a. the Bible is not anti-culture

1) but God’s teachings through Scripture are meant to confront every one of us and to call us to a new way of thinking, experiencing, and living that is often contrary to the culture

2. to follow Christ means compare our assumptions and values against what God says through His Word, and when they conflict, to bring our views into alignment God’s revealed values

a. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

1) the question before all of us is this: Will we allow the Bible to rebuke us? Will we allow God, through Scripture, to correct us?

b. when we elevate our cultural values above the straightforward teachings of Scripture it is a way of us saying to God, “I will adopt what you say only whenever you agree with what I already think.”

c. however, when we allow Scripture to rebuke us, we say to God, “I trust that you are wiser than I am, and I will willing to embrace a message that seems foolish to many because I believe that your wisdom will be vindicated in the end.”

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