Expository Preaching Blog #21 – “Get Out Of God’s Way!”

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Many of my blog posts are born out of frustration and negative experiences. Such is this blog post. The Bible is God’s message for mankind. Hebrews 4:12 says “The Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” God wants to work in our hearts and souls through His Word. It is His plan, His purpose, His divine method so why don’t we use it?

II Timothy 2:15 says “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.” This is my life verse. This is the reason I only do expository preaching. It is God’s command. It is the way He wants it done.

So why do we try to do it our way? Why do we stand in the way of God’s methods and purpose and come up with our own way? No I do not believe that you can stop God. You cannot prevent God from doing His perfect, divine will. Many have tried unsuccessfully.

We need to do things God’s way in God’s time. We have a powerful tool that has been changing lives, saving souls and teaching people for thousands of years. Why are we standing in God’s way? Why do we think our way is better when we have a perfect book written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and has stood the test of time for centuries.

Recently I attended a new church for the first time. A friend told me they had expository preaching. I had listened to the senior pastor on line for a couple of sermons and he did pretty well and it was expository preaching. The Sunday we attended the Student Pastor was finishing up a yearlong series on the Book of Hebrews. I was looking forward to the sermon on the passage. BUT he preached his own thing. He did not preach what was in the passage. He did not preach God’s Word but he preached his own words. Instead of preaching on “Jesus Christ … that great Shepherd of the sheep” he spent much of his time on himself and earthly shepherds (pastors) and their role and his experiences. This passage is not talking about earthly shepherds at all so why was he? This is what I mean about sticking to the text. Don’t preach what is not there and do preach what is there.

I am baffled as to why preachers in the pulpit refuse to preach the Word of God. Why do they insist on preaching their own words? Their words are worthless. Their words mean nothing more than the person in the next pulpit down the road. I won’t waste my time listening to some one’s opinion on any subject. I don’t care if they do stand in a pulpit to deliver it. Give me the Word of God. Give me the Word of Life. Give me some meat that will feed my soul. If you can’t be God’s preacher, don’t bother being anyone’s preacher. We have millions of those already.

 

Rev. David Johnson

Former Pastor

First Baptist Church of Austin, MN

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