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Last weekend I had to drive down to the Transkei from Bloemfontein for church work. I praised the Lord once again for this lovely country of ours when I could enjoy the scenery in the southern Drakensberg range beyond Barkly East. But I also pleaded with God that this privileged nation of ours might really learn to glorify his name, just as nature herself has done in the beautiful work of creation.

We all know that there are so many things amongst our people that rebel against the will of God and that cry out against the glory of his Name. Crime and violence that are as bad as we have ever seen before. Corruption and maladministration that paralyze our society. But also in particular a disregard for the Word of God and his revealed will for humankind. We see it everyday: people living as if there is no God who perceives them; as if God had never sent his only-begotten Son to make atonement for our iniquities; as if there was no Holy Spirit to guide us in the ways of righteousness.

I thought by myself: Is there any way in which we could see a change in this situation? But no. It has to start in a different way. Not the situation, but the hearts of people. And that is the field of the Holy Spirit. Yes, he can do it for this nation. But you know, he works through the Word of God to bring about this kind of change. And he particularly does it through the proclamation of his Word. That brings us into the picture!

I praise the Lord every time I hear a sermon that I experience as the sound and genuine proclamation of God's Word of truth. On the other hand it breaks my heart when I listen to a sermon and realise that the preacher is losing the opportunity to really bring God's truth to the people of God.

Many years ago when I studied abroad I used to go to a church nearby. The pastor was a young man who obviously read extensively in the field of theology. He also had a keen interest in social and political issues. This was especially clear from his scholarly sermons every Sunday. I often heard people say after the service that they so much long for the simple gospel of Jesus Christ to be heard once again in their church. And then one Sunday morning this preacher had to be somewhere else. In the pulpit stood an old man, a retired pastor, but a man truly filled with the Spirit of God. I wish you could have experienced with us the joy of a congregation who once again heard God's Word of truth proclaimed to them in sincerity and in the love of Christ.

But of course: no preacher is perfect, and no sermon can be rated immaculate. It has often been my experience - and I believe everyone of you know what I am talking about - that on a Saturday night I came to realise that I could not go into the pulpit with this sermon tomorrow - and I had to start all over again. It is a hard way to learn - particularly for a young pastor. And yet, the sooner you learn it, the better for yourself and for the congregation in which you serve.

One should certainly not always judge a sermon or a church service according to the way you experience it personally. Your judgement may indeed be rather subjective. But this is not the point of my paper. Rather I want to address myself to the responsibility of the preacher, to his calling and to his preparation.

And yet, one cannot ignore the cry from the heart of many church members expressing a grave dissatisfaction with the kind of preaching that they are subjected to week after week. Research indeed tells us that this is a worldwide phenomenon. In the UK and in Europe for instance church attendance has been dwindling to very small numbers in many congregations. Many people say that they are by no means unwilling to go to church. Neither have they given up on their religion. But time and again they leave the church disappointed. They also find it difficult to convince their children that they should attend the worship services on a Sunday. Many will concur with Emerson when he states: "I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching." Too often you hear people say that they understood little of what the preacher was saying.

True: many complaints in this regard are unfounded. The cause will often be a distorted relation between this person and Jesus Christ, rather than the sermon of which he or she was so critical. On the other hand as phenomenon it is just too widespread to be ignored. It calls for our urgent attention.

Obviously the problem is more related to the content of the sermon than to the way in which it is delivered.

I sometimes get the feeling that some preachers try to improve on their performance quite the wrong way round. Some try it by all kinds of tricks and gimmicks. Others by their rhetorical skills. Or by sensational revelations to shock the congregation into attentiveness. This is not what preaching is about. The decisive question will always be whether they have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ clearly and sincerely. I remember so well: we once had a student who was extremely poor at conversation. I always wondered how he would be able to preach a sermon. And then came the day of his probation sermon. To my amazement he held the audience captive for 25 minutes. He was no great orator. But he brought the gospel so frankly, so honestly, so sincerely that people left that church building knowing that they have had and encounter with the living God.

To my mind there is no doubt about what preaching should be: true and sound proclamation of the Word of God. Nothing more, and nothing less. Why? Because there is only one guarantee that the church through its preaching will really touch people's lives and the innermost depths of their hearts. Only when it is indeed a proclamation of the living Word of God will this certainly happen. From his Word, as the primary means of grace, a strong appeal extends to the listener: above all to create and strengthen faith in God by the message of redemption in Jesus Christ.

It is quite remarkable: the more true scriptural preaching fades away, the more its credibility is jeopardized. The command of 2 Timothy 4:1 and 2 is to the point: "I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction." From the original Greek text it is quite clear that this is no mere recommendation. The phrase that Paul uses here under inspiration of the Holy Spirit actually binds Timothy under oath to do nothing than this: to preach the Word: "khruxon ton logon" – he says. In his commentary on this verse Calvin states unambiguously that God "will not suffer to remain unpunished the negligence of pastors, through whom souls, which he had redeemed at so costly a price, perish or are exposed as a prey." Let no one preach in abundance of words, yet without the Word, given us by God Himself.

True proclamation of the gospel will always be exposition and application of the text from the Word of God. The preacher should take great care less his sermon is merely a summary of a number of general biblical truths, which could be attached to almost any passage from the Bible. Time and again he should endeavour to discover the true essence and message of that particular passage through thorough exegesis. At he same time he will profit from taking careful note of doctrinal truths developed by the church through the course of many centuries.

The laying down of great doctrines and the formulation of those great creeds of Christendom was no mere coincidence. The guidance of the Holy Spirit, which Christ promised his followers, can indeed be seen in the development of these documents. They help us in a great way to understand the glorious truths of the Bible. I believe that in one's preparation of a sermon, you are wise to consult the creeds and confessional standards that the history of the church has delivered to us. Otherwise the congregation may soon experience that their pastor has nothing new to tell them. I remember very well a preacher to whom I listened very often as a young man. In the end I could by myself almost certainly complete every sentence as soon as I have heard the beginning, and I could almost certainly predict the course of his argument once he got under way!

The pastor should always remember that he is not at liberty to add to the revelation of God or to deduct from it. His duty is to interpret, to clarify, to explain and to apply this godly Word to those who hear him. One of the greatest dangers in the ministry of the church is that the Word of God loses its primary place in preaching. As pastors we should take particular care when we want to be contextual and to address ourselves to current issues. Do not get me wrong: A sermon should indeed be relevant to the current situation and to those matters that concern the people of God here and now. The people of God need to know the answer to many worrying questions that is particular to modern life. But it is possible that a sermon can be structured very well, while at the same time in its content it moves far away from the particular biblical passage that should be expounded and applied. In the end the congregation will be left with little more than the pastors own opinion on current issues, rather than with the guidelines of God’s Word.

Once again: the preaching of the church should not be narrowed down to the personal salvation of the individual only. Important as this may be, current issues should also be regularly addressed. There are indeed many burning issues and uncertainties about which the people of God should receive sound guidance in the church’s exposition of Scripture. People should go away from the worship service well equipped for life in all its many facets. But particularly in contextual applications the preacher should ensure that he remains true to the Word of God. Should you ever doubt about your ability at that stage to give a true explication and application of some biblical passage, leave it for the time being until you get more clarity on it.

I find it so encouraging for my ministry that the Bible explicitly refers to the word that is heard in preaching as the Word of God indeed. Writing to the Thessalonians Paul thanks God continually "because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe" (1 Th 2:13). His preaching was a,lhqwj logon qeou – truly the Word of God.

This, of course, has a double implication, which we should never forget. On the one hand: for the minister it implies a stern warning that he should take great care for his preaching indeed to be in accordance with God’s Word. There will always be the temptation to further your own ideas and your particular preferences. In preparing a sermon one simply has to constantly be aware of your grave responsibility as preacher: everything that you say should be in accordance with the Word of God.

The hearer, on the other hand, should never forget that in this word which is brought to him as proclamation, he has to do with God himself. True preaching is no mere personal view of the pastor. Thus Paul could say to the Corinthians: "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us" (2 Co 5:20). And Christ himself said to his apostles: "He who listens to you, listens to me" (Luke 10:16).

In recent times there has been a number of letters in church newspapers, but also in the secular press, expressing the view that in its preaching the church is no longer as clear on ethical issues as it used to be in years past. People say they notice much more tolerance and almost some kind of fear to call sin by its name and to denounce it radically as against the will of God.

Now it is true that many of us theologians nowadays realise that the correct interpretation of Scripture is not always easy and that in some cases we tend to admit that we do not have a final answer to every question. In some instances we need to say: by the light that we have at present, this is our interpretation. And yet, there are many biblical truths about which we do not need to be hesitant, and about which we should be abundantly clear in our guidance to God's people and also to the world.

I like to believe that what Christ promised his followers about the guidance of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 16:13-15) certainly applies to the preaching of the Word. We all know that God’s Word is the primary means by which the Holy Spirit extends his grace of redemption to humankind. Clearly this Word is not only Scripture, but also the word as proclamation. Thus we read in Romans 10:17: "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." Paul also states explicitly that "the message that we brought you as God’s message … has become a living power among you who believe it" (1 Th 2:13 – Jerusalem Bible).

Indeed, in the theology of the Reformation there has always been this strong link between Scripture and preaching. The Confessio Helvetica Posterior states explicitly that not only is the Bible the Word of God, but also that the preaching of God’s Word, is the Word of God.

And yes, as God is the primary author (auctor primarius) of Scripture, thus also He is the primary preacher (praedicator primarius) of the Word. Through the ministry of human preachers and in the language of humankind God carries forth his Word to the ends of the earth. Clearly, the preaching of the church can have but one motive: to let people hear the Word of God. A sermon is no place for the fabricated ingeniousness of the preacher. Always beyond the preacher is God actively speaking his Word through his Holy Spirit guiding and enlightening both preacher and hearers. In this service the pastor is Verbi divini minister – his primary charge is to make known the Word of the living God.

One can never say, though, that all preaching is indeed proclamation of God’s Word. There will always be a very clear condition. The pastor who really wants to speak God’s Word with any authority, should actually in the content of his sermon go no further than a repetition of God’s Word, be it then in his own words. For that he should know his total dependence on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Obviously, a question that arises for the serious pastor and preacher is how to make sure that his preaching does not deviate from the intention of Scripture. Is it not true that interpretation is almost bound to be subjective – at least to some extent?

In the Reformed tradition one of the characteristics of Scripture is its clarity or so-called perspicuitas. We believe that the Bible was given to be read and understood by the people of God. God wants to be heard when He has something to say to us. It almost stands to reason that this should be particularly true of his inspired Word ( the grafh qeopneustoj, 2 Ti 3:16).

There are, of course, certain biblical passages that are much easier to understand than others. There are indeed those passages, of which even excellent biblical scholars find it hard to get down to the real meaning or intention. But even so we must state clearly that the problem of difficulties in exposition is not inherent in Scripture itself, but rather due to our lack of comprehension and perception. For also our rational abilities and the spiritual processes of the mind are deeply affected by our sinful nature. Scripture however, originating from God, cannot be obscure in itself. This is the reason – I believe - why reading the Bible and hearing the Word of God has a profound effect on man, different from any other book.

But now, how does the preacher in preparing his sermon reach a sound understanding of God’s Word so that he may go into the pulpit saying: Hear the Word of the Lord! There is an old saying in theology to help us in this regard. In Latin it reads: sacra scriptura sui ipsius interpres. Translated it says: Scripture is its own interpreter. It amounts to this: in order to understand those difficult passages, compare it with other passages that you do understand, dealing with the same truth or subject.

One should, indeed, be careful of relying too much on one particular passage without relating it to others. Christ himself showed us the way when the tempter in the wilderness

quoted Scripture out of context. Jesus said to him: Scripture also says …(palin gegraptai). If we do not follow this guideline, it may easily happen – as actually often does – that we are not constant in our advice to the people of God. Wrong interpretation of Scripture leads to much misunderstanding and even to great conflict within and between churches.

There are, however, some other rules too, which one can apply if you want to interpret Scripture correctly:

• Every Bible passage should be understood in its particular context. I remember the sound advice that one of our great professors of theology gave us when I was a young student. He used to say: brothers, you should read, and read again, and read again and again before you start making your sermon. Read the Bible text or the passage that you want to preach about. Then read the paragraph or section in which you find it. And read the chapter. And read some chapters preceding it and some chapters following it. If necessary, read the whole book. Also read the passage in several translations. If you can, read it in the original Greek or Hebrew. Only then should you go on to consult other literature on it.

• A second rule: make sure that you know something of the historical background against which this particular passage originated or was first written. One can so easily completely misinterpret something in Scripture when you apply the written text to our situation without asking how the first readers many centuries ago would have understood it in their situation.

• Thirdly: keep in mind the kind of literature in which you find the passage. Is it an historical narrative, or a letter, or poetry, or wisdom literature, or a parable or prophecy or whatever. Then interpret it accordingly, taking into account how that particular kind of literature was intended to be understood in those ancient communities.

• Finally: Always interpret a Bible passage in relation to the central or overall intention of the Bible as proclamation of redemption in Christ and the coming of his kingdom.

In doing this, you make yourself a vehicle for the Holy Spirit to bring God’s Word to his world in its true intention and as a message that bears the authority of God himself. Let us never forget: we alone and on our own can never hope to achieve sound interpretation of Scripture. We are dependent on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which will always be available to God’s people.

A good sermon should always bear the distinction of truly proclaiming God’s Word. Those who listen should have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the preacher: that he honestly believes in what he says, and has made it his own in the days of preparation. The pulpit is no classroom. The sermon is no lecture on a biblical topic, nor an address on some current social issue. It is God addressing people through the ministry of his servant. And it is your privilege and mine to be that servant!

Last edited on: Tuesday April 03, 2007     E-mail us at: mail@ksb.org.za          Return to KSB Home page