The Place of Preaching in the Church Part 1

Preamble: It has been 10 years since Martin Geluk was called into the presence of the Lord. But he left behind a legacy in the hearts and minds of the congregations he served throughout his ministry, (Geelong being one of those congregations), as well as through his contributions to Trowel and Sword. For the next four weeks we will be publishing, D.V. a series of articles that Martin wrote for T&S in 1995 titled “The Place of Preaching in the Church”. Today, as then, Christians often need reminding of the purpose and importance of preaching in the worship service.

Rev. Martin Geluk. Trowel and Sword, May 1995

What is the most important task of the church of Jesus Christ? Some will know what that is, and others will not. There may also be those who are not so sure about it anymore and their uncertainty may be caused by what is happening in the Christian church today.  We refer to the preaching of the gospel as the most important task of the church.

Those who have always believed in preaching will need little convincing.  But you may have sometimes despaired about the manner and the content of the preaching.  The church’s history will reveal that poor preaching weakens the church’s vitality but good, biblical preaching makes for a robust church.

Those who did not know that preaching is the church’s most important task, might have thought that fellowship was it. One can think of many reasons to support that view.  In so many ways the church is a place where people meet, where there are a variety of activities going on, and where you have friends who will stand by you. Of course, you knew that in each worship service a considerable amount of time was given to preaching but you think it is vital that a church is first of all friendly, caring and open to the community.  A place where you are made to feel welcome and experience warm fellowship. So you would say that the emphasis would have to be on all those things in the church. To have good preaching as well would simply be seen as a bonus.

Those who have become uncertain about the place of preaching have perhaps been to worship services where many other interesting things were done besides preaching and the preaching did not even take up most of the time. There was a lot of music perhaps, maybe some drama and skits, or a bit of puppetry. Some of it was pretty good, you thought. You may have also heard people talk excitedly about their faith experiences with the Lord and there seemed to be a message in it for all who were present.  Such services were far from dull. And you have heard people say that when there is too much emphasis upon preaching then it all gets too intellectual. Now you are not so sure anymore as to what the church ought to be doing when it meets for worship.

A passage like Romans 10:14 -15 , and its context, has something to say about the place of preaching in the Christian church. In this and subsequent articles I would like to make a few observations from this portion of Scripture which I believe to be relevant to preaching.

The aim of preaching is to have people call on the name of the Lord for salvation.

In this Romans passage the Apostle Paul is asking a number of simple questions with the aim of leading the reader, or listener, to some obvious truths. People will sometimes use this method when they want you to see for yourself that the final truth can only be one thing. After you have answered the first question, you will get the next question. When you have answered that question, then there’s another.  The questions keep on coming, until finally their sequence leads you to the all important truth your questioner wants you to realise.

The all important truth Paul wanted the Christian church to know is that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved [vs.13]. But many Jews of Paul’s day could not see that it was necessary for them to come to Christ. They regarded themselves as the already chosen ones of God, which in itself was true, but unfortunately the Jews based their election on them being Jews. Because they belonged to Israel, because they were from Abraham, and because they had the law and the temple and the sacrifices, they thought that all this reaffirmed them, automatically, as being God’s chosen people. For centuries they had been thinking along these lines and it proved most difficult to persuade them otherwise.

However, belonging to God and receiving His gift of salvation has always been based on grace and never on works. The only way to be right with God is when you have been given the righteousness of Christ, and the only way to receive that was through faith in Christ. And faith in Christ comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ [vs.17].

Many Jews, however, were so used to believing they had earned their own righteousness, through zealous keeping of the law, factitious though it was, that the very idea of calling upon the Saviour Jesus Christ to atone for them was extremely distasteful. Because of their rebellion to the whole idea of salvation by grace, God did what He has always planned to do, to reach out to the Gentiles and save many of them. Thus the Lord sent the apostle Paul to the Gentiles to proclaim the gospel to them and whoever called upon the name of the Lord for salvation was saved.

However, God did not completely write off the Jews. Anyone of lsrael who also called on the name of the Lord will be saved as well. For Christ is the only Saviour for both Jew and Gentile.

And so the all important truth that Paul wanted all people to know is for them to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus for salvation. But how would both Jew and Gentile come to know about that? And what does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord for salvation? Well, God has that all worked out.  It is to hear the word of Christ and through hearing Christ the Spirit of God will work faith in the hearts of all those whom God had appointed to be saved. But all people have an inclination to save themselves. It’s part of their sinful nature.  People find it very hard to believe that they can’t save themselves and that they need the Saviour Jesus Christ. And so Paul found it necessary to ask a number of questions that would lead people to see that the word of Christ must be proclaimed and that this is the most important task of the church.

Firstly, how can they call on the one they have not believed in? Yes, how can sinners call on Jesus the Saviour when they don’t even believe in Him? How can they come to kneel before the Saviour of men and pray: Lord, save me?  The answer is, of course, that they can’t and they won’t.  They need first to hear about Jesus. The truth about Him has to be proclaimed and the false things that are said about Christ have to be cleared up before people can know Him, become convicted of their sin, start believing in Him and then pray for their salvation.

So, here comes the next question: How can they believe in the one whom they have not heard?  The answer is: they need to hear Christ! The Lord Himself has to speak to them.  Well, that is also obvious. People need to hear Christ speak.  But how is that going to happen seeing that the Lord has ascended to heaven?  When Jesus had come from heaven to earth then He Himself went around teaching and proclaiming the gospel. But the Lord is back in heaven, so how is the gospel communicated now?

Well, the next question has again the obvious answer in it.  How can they hear without someone preaching to them? So preachers are needed through whom Christ can speak. The gospel is to be spread through preaching.  But who are the preachers and where do they come from?

The answer to this is in the last question. Paul asked: How can they preach unless they are sent? So not anyone can start preaching. They have to be sent.  Someone has to approve of them and give them the authority to preach Christ.

How will it happen, then, that sinners needing salvation will begin to believe in Christ and call on Him to save them?  Well, in order to believe and come to Christ they need to hear Christ speak.  In order to hear the word of Christ someone has to preach Christ’s Word to them.  In order for that to happen preachers need to be sent.

The bottom line, therefore, is that God has put preaching in its place as the way for sinners to hear Christ speak, thus get to know Him, and then with that knowledge believe and call on Christ for their salvation.  Preaching, therefore, is not the brain­ child of preachers, nor is it a mere custom or tradition of the church, it is the God-ordained way to save sinners.

Next time we consider the observation that preaching is the church’s most important calling.

M.P. Geluk. The Revd. Martin Geluk is Pastor of the Gosford Reformed Church (N.S.W.)

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