Expository Preaching Blog #28 – “Don’t Tell Me What to Do!”

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 A couple of years ago we were having supper with another couple from the church we were attending at the time. One of the individuals asked us what we thought of their pastor. Now we had been attending the church for about 9 months at the time. We had even joined the church. We usually attended Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night. The senior pastor preached in every service as well as taught the adult Sunday school class every single week. It was rare that anyone else spoke. So we heard him speak over 100 times by this point. We had observed the ministry of the church a lot by this time.

When we responded to this person we stated honestly that we thought the pastor was green. We explained by stating that the preacher was focused on human behavior for 90% or more of his preaching. We said we didn’t attend church to have another human being continually tell us what to do and how to live. The other person strongly disagreed and said that they attend church so that the pastor can “tell them what to do!” I couldn’t disagree more. We left that church a couple of months later.

I attend church to worship and fellowship together with other believers. Yes I absolutely expect Bible preaching and teaching in every service. But the Bible is not primarily about human behavior. Yes it does address human behavior. The 10 Commandments are a great illustration of that. But the Book of Exodus which contains the 10 Commandments is not about human behavior. It is a narrative of the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt. The Book of Genesis is a narrative of the creation of the world to the point where Jacob and his descendants are in slavery in Egypt. Yes Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are predominately about human behavior but it is in the context of the Law of Moses given to Israel. Joshua though Job are narratives and history books. Psalms, Proverbs and Song of Solomon are poetry books. The rest of the Old Testament is prophecy.

In the New Testament the four gospels are the story of the life of Jesus. Acts is a history book. Romans through Jude are epistles to individuals and church. And of course Revelation is a book of Prophecy.
If God does not predominately focus on human behavior in His inspired scriptures why do we? We need to preach the Bible verse by verse and thought by thought exactly as God has given it to us. As we read and study and preach the Word of God the Holy Spirit will take it supernaturally and make application to our lives. We will know how to live without the interference of a human preacher. I do believe that most preachers try to take the place of the Holy Spirit and do not really believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So I plead with preachers everywhere, Preach the Word! Don’t tell me what to do, that is God’s job!

 

 

Rev. David Johnson

Former Pastor

First Baptist Church of Austin, MN

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