What is and what is not preaching?


What are the bounds of this defintion?


How does it differ from other forms of telling/expressing the Gospel?

What are the elements that MUST be there for it to be preaching. What elements can be subtract or change based on context or culture?

Who can do it?


When preaching, how is on to preach? Expository? Topical, etc? How did Paul and Peter preach? Was it expositional or topical and can we model their examples or not? Why or why not?


When preaching, how relevant should we try to be and how much should our sermons touch on current events and current trends in our cultures and thoughts?

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

Truth set aflame, truth on fire, truth conveyed through personality.
A primary means of God converting and sanctifying his people (How shall they hear without someone preaching...we preach Christ).
The preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God (2d Helvetic)
It is prophetic, it is textual, it is personal, it is applicable.

Random thoughts...

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Kenneth A. Pierce
Senior Minister
Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA)
5301 Old Canton Rd.
Jackson, MS 39211
(601)977-0774
www.tpcjackson.org

The preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God?

Interesting...

Paul says about preaching: Eph 4:21 --wrongly translated (except NAS): surely you have heard of (or about) him. JR de Witt used to point out often, it really says, "Surely you have heard HIM!" God's own voice thunders, whispers, and pleads in faithful preaching.

See Stuart Olyott's book Preaching - Pure and Simple. The main points of this are summarized in my book The Regulative Principle of Worship: Explained and Applied. Mr. Olyott does a great job of showing what preaching is by his study in the Greek words used for preaching.

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

In fact here is my review of Stuart Olyott's book:

Stuart Olyott is some bloke, not only does he preach Biblically accurate, heart-searching sermons, he also writes books about how to preach them. While those of us who do not aspire to the ministerial office may question the point of reading a book on preaching, we should remember that the preaching of the word occupies the central place in both New Testament and historic Protestant worship; and for this reason it is absolutely requisite that those of us who adhere to the regulative principle of worship correctly understand the place of preaching in worship. Mr. Olyott helps us in this respect in part one of the book where he examines precisely what preaching is. By focusing on the four Greek words used for preaching in the New Testament (kerusso, euangelizo, martureo, and didasko) the author explains that preaching must always include: declaring the King’s message exactly (kerusso), bringing good news (euangelizo), bearing witness to the facts (martureo), and spelling out in concrete terms what the message means as far as living is concerned (didasko). In order for a minister’s sermon to preaching (in the Biblical sense), then it must contain all of the above. This means that there is not one form of preaching to the saved in the morning, and then another for the unsaved in the evening; all sermons, whether preached to the saved or lost, must contain all four of these elements.

In part two the author then examines what makes good preaching. Firstly, exegetical accuracy is vital to preaching. One of the things I loathe most is when some clown (I will not give him the dignity of the title ‘minister’) dares to get into a pulpit and deliberately lifts verses of Scripture out of context to speak, not preach, on whatever he wants - regardless of whether or not it is coming out of the text. Thankfully, for the four years that I have been in the Reformed Presbyterians I have never heard a minister do this; and long may it continue. Such a man, when he does this, is little better than a liberal; because what is the point of believing that the inspiration of Scripture extends to each and every word, if he can profanely lift these words out of their context and use them as a springboard for whatever he likes. Consequently, the preacher needs to consider the wider and narrower context in which a particular text appears, and to consider what it meant to the original writer and audience. If a minister doesn’t do this then he can get the Bible to say whatever he wants, because as Don Carson once put it ‘a text without a context is a pretext for a proof text.’ Obviously preaching which lacks doctrinal substance is certainly unedifying; one wonders how a man can claim to be preaching the Bible and yet try not to be too doctrinal?

Other important factors in good preaching include a clear structure, the author favours the three point system - which I believe is to be preferred to the Puritan method of having hundreds of points, sub-points, and sub-sub-points - accompanied with suitable and useful illustrations to assist the memories of the congregation. Pointed application (not ignorant or ranting) and a helpful method of delivery are also essential; although it is really supernatural authority that puts the icing on the cake of a good sermon.

In the final section Mr. Olyott suggests a very practical method of sermon preparation and, dare I suggest, that every minister read this every week before he writes his sermons. Finally there is a short biography of Hugh David Morgan (1928-92), a Welsh Evangelical and Reformed preacher who exemplified the principles of this book. Written in a very clear and comprehensible style Preaching - Pure and Simple is well worthy of prayerful consideration, even by those of us who are not ministers.

A sermon is an explanation of a portion of Scripture with doctrinal formulations and practical applications. It is from the whole preacher to the whole person (no separation of head and heart). I agree that the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God (as long as it is faithful!) used by the Spirit to change people. I view explanation, doctrine, and application as being the three integral elements of preaching (this is the Puritan view). Without any one of those things, it is not a sermon. This raises the serious question of whether "topical" preaching is actually preaching. It can be done in a way that renders it little different from expository preaching (basing the topic on a Scripture passage). However, most topical preaching is not preaching, since they do not preach the Word, but their own hobby horse. The model is Ezra, explaining the text, and the Spirit effecting change in the people as they heard it applied to their situation. The application bit is where the relevance to our modern situation is to be explored. The Word applies not only to the original audience, but also to us in our situation.

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Rev. Lane Keister
Teaching Elder, PCA, North Dakota (working out of bounds in a CRC and an RCA church)
http://greenbaggins.wordpress.com
http://brahmsgreenglove.blogspot.com
http://accenttranslation.blogspot.com
Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Preaching is the vehicle by which faith is delivered. Preaching is done by those whom are sent by God with authority to deliver the good news. (Their feet are beautiful, BTW) (Rom 10)

Preaching is the revelation of the arm of the Lord. (Isa 53:1)

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not a new idea at all. Bullinger, for one, taught this very clearly, and it has long been regarded as such in Reformed teaching about preaching the Word.

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Todd K. Pedlar
member, First Congregational Church, (CCCC) Cresco, IA
http://semperubi.rtrc.net

"Many men, after a long conversion, see more of the workings of sin in their hearts than ever they did before or at their first conversion. Now, such men have not an increase of sin, but an increase of illumination and light" (Christopher Love)


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THE vehicle..

What about those who have faith from infancy.

this is

I'm just curious though.

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Shawn Atkins
Member, Parkhill Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Denver, Colorado

Open my eyes Lord, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Psalm 119:18

Off the top of my head, we can look at this firstly by
recognizing that the Psalmist is not giving us some doctrine
of "paedofaith" here. (Sorry, Rich Lusk) What is being proclaimed
is God's love to his children from the earliest days - and trust
that the Psalmist always remembers.

Secondly, one has to be VERY careful about assigning normativity
to extraordinary cases. The Holy Spirit can and DOES act in
extraordinary ways in individual cases, but His doing so cannot and
must not be treated as an every day expectation for everyone.
In this case, perhaps (though I prefer the simpler reading above,
as I think it is quite common for Biblical writers to express things
that way) the Holy Spirit spoke the Word, in a way that the
infant Psalmist could understand, in order that faith be awakened.
The infant John was in that way awakened prior to his birth, also.

My tuppence.

How Preaching May be Called "The Word of God" -- William Gouge

William Gouge on Preaching

Directory for the Publick Worship of God.

Second Helvetic Confession, Chap. 1:

Matthew Henry on the ministry of Philip Henry:

Richard Baxter:

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"Let your Morning Thoughts, and your last Evening Thoughts, be what shall become of you to all Eternity." -- Matthew Poole

The exception does not nullify the rule, it establishes the rule.

LBC 14:1 The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word;

My

Faith is a gift from God, not an intellectual accomplishment.

Thus...wether it is an infant or an adult, the gift of faith is equally SUPERNATURAL and EXTRAORDINARY!!!

only an Arminian, imo, would assume otherwise.

(I'm not accusing anyone of arminianism...I'm only making the point that faith is supernatural in all cases, and God (His giving of faith) is not a respector of persons)

Note: to clarify....the giving of faith to an adult is just as supernatural and extraordinary as the giving of faith to an infant.

The ordinary way God gives grace is through preaching. (According to the confession) Therefore, it is extraordinary when God gives anyone faith without preaching.

That's because Bullinger was also the man who wrote the 2nd Helvetic Confession

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Adam J. Myer
Back to looking for a call...
Evergreen PCA
Salem, Oregon

I have appreciated a thought that Hugh Old comes back to again and again in both his single volume Worship Reformed according to Scripture, and his series The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church , namely, that the best preaching is always doxological. What he means by that is that the best preaching in the long history of the Church (of which numerous example could be cited) has always been one inducing worship in its hearers and such that causes us to give praise to God for the magnificent work done in Christ.

Scripture can be expounded in a manner that magnifies Christ and causes us to glory in him, or it can be analyzed with scientific exactness while missing its telos altogether.

Doctrine can be preached in a way that causes the soul to be lifted up to God, or it can be rolled out in lecture style so as to be of little benefit.

Application can motivate us by being grounded in the glories of our salvation, or it can be ranting moralism that is just as much appropriate to a mosque or a synagogue as to a Christian church.

He does a good job of showing how this played out in the preaching of some well-known preachers of the past, and I would say that his observations are fairly accurate and theologically thoughtful.

So, if we want preaching to be done well, and not just done with an eye to cultural accommodation, we will not hesitate to say that it must be the Word proclaimed by a studied and pious minister, that it must be a verbal monologue that yet actively dialogues with the minds of its hearers (do not even Paul's own epistles accomplish this with his employment of rhetoric?), that it must include exegesis/doctrine/application, and yet that those three elements must be joined with piety and insight into the soul, centered upon Christ, and causing a state of worship among those who hear it.

It will not always happen that we produce such preaching, maybe even rarely happen, but that should be every minster's goal nonetheless.

Perkins' definitions in the Art of Prophesying and the Calling of the Ministry are very helpful. In the Art he calls preaching the Word a "prophesying in the name and on behalf of Christ." In the Calling he says that the minister is God's Angel or messenger and his Interpreter.

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Yours sincerely,


"Illum oportet crescere me autem minui."

Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
2Ti 4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
2Ti 4:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
1Co 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
1Co 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1Co 2:4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
1Co 2:5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

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Pastor Mark A. Mitchell
Senior Pastor/ Second Chance Baptist Church
SBC Affiliated
Wauchula Florida
www.pastormarkmitchell.org
www.2ndchc.org