BIBLICAL PREACHING AND TEACHING

A congregation is nurtured by the teaching of the word of God (1 Pet 1:23-2:3). Wise pastors will thus plan a curriculum of preaching and teaching, so that their people will become increasingly biblically literate and grow in their understanding of key teachings in the Old and New Testaments. This will require careful long-term planning and much effort – which will pay rich dividends for the church.

But what sort of preaching and teaching are required if a church is to grow spiritually as well as in numbers? South Asia has many religions and various traditions of preaching and teaching. Some involve philosophical discussions, others the retelling of traditional stories and myths, others emotional appeals. Elements of these approaches can also be found in Christian preaching. But what sets biblical preaching and teaching apart is its focus on God and his word, the Holy Bible. Such teaching is never merely a lecture on a particular topic. When preaching is focused on God’s word, God speaks to us and through us, enabling us to communicate his heart and his intentions to those who listen.

Preaching and teaching have a long history. In the OT, Noah, Moses, prophets, priests and kings preached and taught the people about how to serve God and how to conduct their daily lives. In the NT, Jesus said that he had been anointed to preach and he commissioned his disciples to preach (Luke 4:18-19, 43; 9:1-2). He also spent many hours teaching his followers – both during sermons in synagogues and when people gathered around him (Mt. 5:1-2; 9:35). In Acts, we frequently see Paul preaching and teaching (15:35; 18:11), and he continued to do so in the letters he wrote to the churches. Over the centuries since then, preaching and teaching have continued to have a prominent role in the church. Every first day of the week when Christians gather, preaching of the word brings them closer to God and to each other. It guides and comforts them as they face troubles and challenges.

But in recent years, there has been a decline in biblical preaching and teaching. In some churches, there may be only a ten-minute sermon in a two-hour service. In others, the sermon may last much longer, but little of its content comes from the Bible. All that remains is the pastor’s opinion or an emotional exhortation to positive thinking!

But our calling as Christian preachers is not to promote positive thinking but to teach our hearers so that they can grow in the knowledge of God (2 Tim 3:16-17). We need to revive biblical preaching and teaching if we want to fulfil our biblical mission. Here are some points that we need to bear in mind as we do so:

• Preaching and practising. One of the reasons for the disinterest in preaching and teaching is that the life of the one speaking does not always match what is being said. In that case, why should the hearers allow it to influence them? Life speaks louder than speech.

We need leaders who clearly strive to practise what they preach. In 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul says, “I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

• Preaching with Prayer. In Acts 6:4, the apostles committed themselves to “prayer and the ministry of the word”. The Apostle Paul regularly prayed and appealed for prayer support for his ministry (Phil 1:3-6; Eph 6:19-20). If we ignore the importance of prayer and regard it as a waste of time, preaching and teaching become a human exercise. But human insight is limited; God’s

power is unlimited. Prayer is what makes preaching and teaching effective.

• Preaching with preparation. The Bible is not an ordinary book. It is a collection of sixty-six writings written by scores of authors over a period of some 1500 years. Each book was written with a specific purpose, in a specific situation, for a specific group of people.

Although the same Holy Spirit inspired all the writings of the Bible, each has a different subject. Biblical preaching and teaching involves communicating, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the biblical message in the present context after understanding it in its original context, so that hearers may apply the truth in their own lives. Without preparation, preaching and teaching will either be boring, repetitive or false.

• Preaching to people. In preaching and teaching, you are making a bridge between the Bible and the hearers. That’s why it is important to understand both shores, that is, the Bible and the people you are addressing. You need to know their language, culture and mentality.

And that is not easy to do. If you preach or teach without understanding the people, communication will flow only one-way, and your hearers will be bored. But if you do know both shores, your preaching and teaching will touch the hearts of people and transform them.

• Preaching with understanding of problems. Biblical preaching not only transforms life, it also teaches people how to live in the midst of various problems. It reveals an understanding of the context in which people live (including what they read in their newspapers and see on TV) and the challenges they face. It teaches them to see their problems from the right perspective, and how to handle them. For example, if addiction or greed is a problem affecting a certain community or church, it is important to understand the problem and then to preach. When we do that, people will relate to the preaching and they will accept it.

• Preaching with purpose. Preaching and teaching should have a purpose and a goal. The goal is not to show off your skills. Nor is it merely to communicate your message. Our focus should be on the transformation that we want to see in the lives of believers and the life of the church.

• Preaching with practicality. Preaching and teaching should be presented in words that are easy to understand and apply. If we allow ourselves to sound as if we are presenting a research paper, our hearers will be bored. But if we translate biblical language into the everyday language of ordinary people, our hearers will be in a position to understand and accept it. And they will begin to take an interest in it. Somebody has said that preaching should be so simple and practical that those who listen should think that they too could preach like that.

If we are to spread biblical teaching, we not only have to keep the culture of biblical preaching alive but also make it interesting and practical. Preaching and prayer go together. Christians will be healthy when churches make right and clear preaching their priority. And healthy Christians will build healthy churches.