Why Should a Pastor Be So Preoccupied With Preaching God's Word

The eldership structure of my church provides me the opportunity to spend a majority of my weekly work hours in prayer and study of Scripture. Here are a few reasons why a pastor's primary responsibility is to preach God's Word (maybe some of you would like to add to this list in the comments section):

· First, preaching biblical theology helps church members mature in their worship of God. As we encounter the God of Scripture who establishes and keeps His covenant promises with His people, we come to see something of the majesty of God. The Lord’s working of all things together for good comes into clearer focus, from the promise of the woman’s Seed that would bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15), to the opening of barren wombs so that the Seed would be preserved (Genesis 17:15-19; Genesis 21:1-2; Genesis 29:31; 30:22; Isaiah 7:14), to the actual birth of that Seed in fulfillment of all that God decreed (Matthew 1:20-23). When we see that God is, always has been, and always will be the same creating, holy, faithful, loving, and sovereign God for us as He has been with others, we are stirred in our faith and awe of God. When a church has a pastor who will preach the whole council of God's Word, that church will have a healthy, maturing membership. Such a church will have members who have a reverence for God and will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

· Second, preaching expositionally helps church members to overcome wrong thinking and wrong ideas. All of us encounter various teachings in the Bible that challenge, confuse, or provoke us. Often, we refuse to accept these teachings because of the dullness and sin in our hearts. We can evade one verse here or there that displeases or confronts us. But when a pastor communicates the whole of biblical revelation and the total weight of the teaching of Scripture on a particular subject, we are more readily convinced of our wrong ideas and inclinations. Biblical theology helps us to see how God has consistently spoken to His people in diverse places and diverse ways (Hebrews 1:1) the same message that we must all one day bow to and accept (Isaiah 45:22-24; Romans 14:10-12; Philippians 2:9-11). Furthermore, we are always tempted to make wrong decisions, even to rebel against God and live in sin. But as Grudem says, the more we know about God, about his Word, about His relationships to the world and mankind, the better we will trust Him, the more fully we will praise Him, and the more readily we will obey Him. As a pastor consistently and constantly preaches biblical theology, church members joyfully submit to God and to jettison their wrong thinking.

· Third, preaching biblical theology helps inoculate the church against doctrinal controversies. Church history is replete with controversies rising within and between congregations and entire denominations. Churches are better able to withstand and productively resolve such controversies when they maintain a good understanding of biblical, systematic, and historical theology. Preaching biblical theology is akin to putting together a jigsaw puzzle. When one piece of the puzzle appears unfamiliar, we can search for its proper place in the puzzle by relating it to the bigger picture on the puzzle box. The more pieces we have in place to begin with, the easier it is to evaluate and fit in new pieces and the less apt we are to make mistakes. An adequate grasp of biblical theology is much like having the picture of the completed puzzle, allowing us to accept or reject errant theological pieces. The Scriptures "were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come" (I Corinthians 10:11) and knowledge of them protects the church from clever wives tales and endless disputes.

· Fourth, the preaching of biblical theology is necessary to fulfilling the Great Commission. Jesus commands us to teach all believers to observe all that He commands (Matthew 28:19-20). The task of fulfilling the Great Commission includes therefore not only evangelizing the lost till they come to faith in Christ, but also teaching the new believers so they may become disciples. Without a well-formed theology, including an accurate understanding of how God’s commands are to be understood in their historical development and context, it is practically impossible to obey the Lord’s command to teach others to obey. What would we teach? What would they obey? How would they know what to apply to their lives? These questions are better answered when church members are knowledgeable of biblical theology. Thus, only when a church has pastor who preaches biblical theology can a church effectively fulfill the whole of the Great Commission.

(HT 9Marks)