Our Place in the Hearing of and Preaching of the Word
Aug 1st, 2008 by Nathan White
In my last post, I attempted to argue that spiritual growth is a slow process, that visible growth or even the effect of the Word is not always immediately evident to us, and the two areas which I considered were when we preach to others and when we sit under preaching of others.
By God’s providence, the day after I wrote the post I stumbled upon the same subject in a book I just happened to pick up, The Genius of Puritanism. (Just as a side-note, this is a fantastic book, and I can think of no better overview/introduction to the Puritans and why they were unparalleled in church history, apostles aside.)
Specifically, I found many helpful statements on the subject of the primacy of preaching, the role it plays in our spiritual growth, the importance of sitting under the preached Word, etc. And although the quotes I am going to share are not exactly on the topic of spiritual growth, they do emphasize some very helpful truths regarding the preaching and hearing of the Word of God.
If you haven’t read my last post yet, I’d encourage you to do so before proceeding here; but even still, these quotes can certainly stand on their own. I hope and trust these will keep you from discouragement when you, A) preach to others and don’t see any immediate growth, and B) sit under preaching where you don’t feel like you’re growing. (Everything below is taken from The Genius of Puritanism, all emphasis mine).
Regarding the preaching of the Word:
Thomas Goodwin, stating the primacy of the preached Word and it’s place as the primary means of justification and sanctification, states,
“It is not the letter of the word that ordinarly doth convert, but the spiritual meaning of it as revealed and expounded.”
Goodwin also said:
“It is the meaning of the Word which is the Word indeed; it is the sense of it which is its soul…preaching in a more especial manner reveals God’s Word…”
Nehemiah Rogers said:
“The text is the Word of God abridged; preaching is the Word of God enlarged.”
Jeremiah Burroughs said:
“It is not the nature of the thing that carries such power in it, but it is the institution of God and the ordinance of God in it.” [That is, it isn’t the nature of the physical act of preaching that carries the power, but God through it.]
Regarding our hearing and sitting under the preached Word:
To the objection of some, that ‘they know God’s Word well enough, and therefore they need not be taught’, Richard Sibbes replies:
“The Word of God preached…is not altogether to teach us, but [exists that] the Spirit going with it might work grace necessary to strengthen us in the inward man…”
Jeremiah Burroughs said:
“…[we are to] come to hear the Word as an ordinance appointed by God to convey spiritual food to the soul.”
Burroughs again:
“For men that are of some understanding and parts [talents], when they come to hear, this temptation is ready to come upon them, that except they hear some new thing that they did not understand before, wherefore should they come?…Now this is a great mistake.”
Burroughs concludes with regard to preparing for the hearing of the Word of God preached:
“Pray beforehand that God would open thine eyes, and open thine heart, and accompany His Word…Now, seeing it is an ordinance though dost expect more food from than what of its own nature [it] is able to convey, thou hast need to pray…”
John Wells said:
“We must deal with our hearts to embrace the Word…The gospel is not only to be let in by our apprehension, but to be locked in by our affections; and we are to entertain it, not only in the light of it, but in the love of it.”
Conclusion:
This is just a sampling of a lengthy survey Peter Lewis gives on the Puritan teaching regarding these things, but I hope they were as beneficial to you as they were to me.
If nothing else, let us meditate deeply on the truth that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” And that Word of Christ is the preaching of His word, not simply (or normally) the reading of it. As the Ethiopian Eunuch said to Philip, ‘How can I understand the book of Isaiah unless someone guide me?’
And also, as we seek to guide others as well through our preaching, let us trust the Spirit of God to work through the simple truths. Let us not be discouraged if we do not see the results we had hoped for; for God has promised that His Word will not ever come back void…
How do you overcome the fear of “reading in” to Scripture or handling it wrong? In my family devotions where I’m a novice, I generally just read the Word and then stop and pray. How can I be sure I won’t lead my family into error?
Aaron–
Great question. In fact, I was already thinking of this question and of things similar, and will probably write a full treatment of it soon.
But briefly, let me clarify a few things:
First, the simple reading of the scripture is an excellent thing, don’t be mistaken. And God can and does work through the reading alone. But the quotes I shared above are aimed at those who neglect the preaching for the reading, or who place the simple reading above the ordinance of preaching. God has given special place and blessing upon the preaching of the Word, and if we neglect this and say ‘I can just read it myself’, we’ve made a grave error. But this does not discount the importance of simple reading, especially in private and in families.
Secondly, remember the words in 1st John:
The Spirit has given true believers wisdom to discern and interpret the Word. I certainly share your anxiety over ‘getting something wrong’, and with that I would encourage anyone with those fears to stay away from tough passages until the Lord matures, but you can certainly give the proper interpretation of the essential truths of the gospel. Not only that, but your interpretation and exhortation of the simple truths will indeed edify and strengthen others.
Lastly, again, the context is in the arena of public worship. And the the blessing of the preached Word spoken of in scripture by implication assumes that the preacher has been given the gift of preaching. It isn’t the preaching of just anyone that is blessed by God, but the preaching of those whom Christ has equipped to do so (Eph 4:11). So those who have not been given these gifts should not preach, and would want to stick with reading during private and family worship. Furthermore, these who read only during private worship should give full attention and weight to the preaching of the Word by the ministers God has equipped and placed over them, taking the expounding of the Word by their minister into their homes to feed them during the week.
I hope that helps clarify where I (and the men whom I quoted) are coming from.
Thanks for the comment,
Nathan
Thanks so much for posting this. I confess that it has taken a bit of a load off my shoulders. As a preacher now (after many years as a sermon-listener) I have often felt the need/pressure to provide my hearers with a new nugget, or a hidden treasure uncovered for them; and, I have felt like a failure when all I did was simply re-iterate the old truths that have been well-worn. So this article was a needed refresher for me. Just preach the Word. We learn by repetition. And, I’ll say this as well: I know that you can think you’re preaching the same thing from one Sunday to the next, and the Spirit will use it in a completely different way. Ours is simply to be faithful to lay the wood around the altar and pray for the fire to fall.
Gordan–
We do learn by repetition. That doesn’t mean we can’t say the same thing in different ways, but it does mean that all of our preaching will somehow be centered on one message (the cross).
And BTW, I wrote this article (and the last one) because of my own thoughts/concerns/struggles after preaching a few times lately. We want to preach powerfully, we want to give them something they’ve never heard before, and that’s somewhat good, but it’s ultimately the simple things and our trust in the work of the Spirit that produces real growth.
Agreed. I think there is a tension involved, though, that will always keep us from being completely “settled” in this. I mean, yes, what’s been said above is totally true. But it’s also true that we ought to step into the pulpit with earnest expectations, desiring and yearning for the Spirit of the Lord to move mightily among us. Most of the time, this will set us up for some amount of disappointment, I think. But it isn’t wrong for the hard-working farmer to look forward with great eagerness to the harvest, even though he trusts that all the growth is from God.
[…] Are you one who has the perception that the Puritans were high-tower theologians, long-winded, overly cognitive, and dry? The section on Puritan theology surrounding the pulpit will disprove that caricature (Read a previous post I wrote about this section here). […]