Utumishi Blog

If we believe Scripture is clear – that a good reading of the Bible ‘interprets itself’ – then why do we need preaching at all? Well one answer would be sometimes we don’t. Sometimes a simple reading of the Scriptures is sufficient to cut to the heart (e.g. 2 Kings 22:11). But Timothy is told not only to be devoted to reading the Word but commanded, extremely solemnly, to preach it (2 Tim. 4:2). Why? What is it to ‘preach’? It can’t mean ‘explain’ (as if it’s unclear) or make it ‘relevant’ (as if it’s irrelevant) or ‘make it come alive’ (as if it’s dead) or use it as a springboard to your own thoughts – no “Preach the Word” – give them the pure Word of God. How is that different to simply reading then? Three brief thoughts from Acts:

1. Preaching is guiding – Acts 8:26-40 – Years before the first European, the first African to receive Christ has no trouble reading the Prophet Isaiah and he can understand basically what it’s saying (v30) but he’s struggling with what the big idea is – what and who is it really all about (v34). What he needs is a guide: “How can I unless someone guides me?” (v31). What’s a guide? It’s someone who shows you around a game park or a town or a museum and points out the things that you might otherwise overlook or miss the significance of. “Do you see that leopard in the tree?” “Do you see the way that rock looks like a human face?” “Do you see that building, the most important in Nairobi?” That’s what a preacher is to do – take the Scriptures and say, “Do you see this?” Rub our noses in the text. Point out the key ‘sights’ that we must not miss. And what is it that we absolutely must not miss on our guided tour of the Bible? “He told him the good news about Jesus” (v35).
2. Preaching is arguing from the Scriptures for the necessity and supremacy of Christ – Acts 17:1-9 – We looked at this at our last ministry training week – you can download Basics of expository preaching NOTES (MTC1).
3. Preaching is correcting our thinking about God – Acts 17:16-34 – I’m increasingly feeling that maybe a big part of what preaching should be about is saying, “God is not like we think he is, he’s like this…” In Athens Paul is again preaching Jesus (v18) but as he does this he has to say God does not live in man-made temples, he made the universe  (v24); he isn’t served by us, he serves us (v25); we don’t make him, he made us (v26-29). Naturally we think we know God and naturally we get God completely wrong. Paul doesn’t say to the Athenians, let me build on your understanding of this ‘unknown god’ (v23) – No – he says, let me show you that you really don’t have a clue what God is like. He’s nothing like what you’re worshipping – he’s the sovereign, serving, life-giving, missionary, acting-in-history, resurrection God. We all need this sort of preaching because our theology naturally constantly slips away from the truth – every week we need preachers to show us from the Scriptures that God is not a pocket-sized genie or a dictator-in-the-sky but that God is Christ-like.