A strong
fortress
One of the dominant biblical images of ‘church’ is as a building (e.g: 1Corinthians 3:9,
1Peter 2:3-4; Hebrews 3:6; Ephesians 2:19-22).
And a particular slant on this is the church as a strong fortress of
Bible truth. In 1Timothy 3:15 the church
is a ‘pillar and buttress of truth’.
A pillar holds truth high –
displays it for all to see.
A buttress holds truth
firms – defends it from all attacks.
In 1 Timothy this Bible truth
is under subtle, fatal-to-faith attack from those inside the church! They are even named: ‘Hymenaues and Alexander’
(1:20). The reminder to display the truth
prevents cowardice – keeping low so we avoid the bullets. The reminder to defend the truth prevents
complacency – a deadly indifference to distortion.
Wolves in shepherd's clothing
But it is a double
surprise. Not only are the attacks from
those inside the church (wolves in shepherd’s clothing?) but what they attack
is the Bible. They ‘teach false doctrine’
(1:3). They have ‘turned to meaningless
talk. They want to be teachers but do
not know what they are talking about…’ (1:6-7).
Their ‘teaching come from hypocritical liars’ and ‘does not agree with
sound doctrine’ (4:1-2, 6:3-4).
The solution; the way to
both lift high and hold firm the truth is in right handling of the Bible. To be ‘nourished on the truths of faith and of
the good teaching that you have followed’ (4:6-7). To ‘command and teach’ and ‘devote yourself
to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.’ (4:11, 13).
The strongest, military
language is used; six times the word ‘command’; twice to ‘fight the battle’ and
the letter finishes ‘guard what has been entrusted to your care’ (6:20). The reason is that the outcome is
devastating, leading to ‘shipwreck’ (1:19), ‘abandonment’ (4:1), and being ‘plunged
into ruin and destruction’ (6:9).
It is difficult to over-emphasise
the importance of rightly handling the Bible, hence our value of being
Bible-saturated.
In everything all the time
To love the Bible – to love
it and know it and learn it and delight in it and obey it and teach it all the
time in everything.
Especially in the centrality
of main meeting preaching
The weight and lean in
1 Timothy and throughout the New Testament is toward the central position of the
public preaching of the Bible – ‘devote yourself to the public reading of
Scripture, to preaching and to teaching’ (4:13).
Three analogies:
Preaching is the vessel through
which divine life-blood for the vitality and health of the church and God-exalting
transformation either flows freely or dribbles feebly.
Preaching is the rays of
God’s sunlight that ripen and mature seedlings to fruit-bearing beauty or
creates grey, damp rot-inducing dankness that stifles all growth.
Preaching is the
guide-rope anchored to Christ the cornerstone which the church lays stone, brick,
mortar and cladding correctly against.
Precise, taut and accurate guide-ropes produce a Christ-aligned, solid masterpiece;
slack, crooked guide-ropes leave a bulging, unsafe, uninhabited structure.
Preaching is vital. Preaching either opens wide or clogs and
restricts the vessel through which God’s life-blood flows. Preaching either shines forth sun or creates
grey, over-cast, rot-inducing damp. Preaching
either lays a true and precise guide to build to or a crooked, slack rope that
is useless.
An example: our corporate
worship
We do not worship the
Bible but without the Bible we cannot worship.
Without the Bible we do not know who God is, why he should be worshipped,
or what is an appropriate way to worship him.
And of course that is the same for every block of church life and
personal life. Without the Bible taught
I do not know how to love. I do not know
how to serve or live or parent or work.
The quality of the Bible taught to us (and our response to it) is vital. Attacking it undermines all the church can
be. We must be determined to hold it firm
and hold it high (a pillar and buttress) in everything all time and especially
in the public preaching.
Three applications
1 For how preachers
preach
Preachers speak for God.
“When a man goes to church
he often hears a preacher in the pulpit rehash everything that he has read in
the editorials, the newspapers, and the magazines. On the TV commentaries he
hears that same stuff over again, yawns, and goes out and plays golf on Sunday.
When a man comes to church, actually what he is saying to you is this,
“Preacher, I know what the TV commentator has to say; I hear him every day. I
know what the editorial writer has to say; I read it every day. I know what the
magazines have to say; I read them every week. Preacher, what I want to know
is, does God have anything to say? If God has anything to say, tell us what it
is.”
(W.A. Criswell (1909–2002), who
pastored First Baptist Dallas for 40 years)
But preachers speak for God
only as they teach the Bible. Preachers
have a real but delegated and conditional authority.
“The Christian preacher
has a boundary set for him. When he enters the pulpit, he is not an entirely
free man. There is a very real sense in which it may be said of him that the
Almighty has set him his bounds that he shall not pass. He is not at liberty to
invent or choose his message: it has been committed to him, and it is for him
to declare, expound, and commend it to his hearers . . . It is a great thing to
come under the magnificent tyranny of the Gospel!”
(Donald Coggan, Archbishop 1976-1980)
So there is a paradox:
liberty and restraint; authority and humility; prophetic and submissive;
anointed and studied.
2 For how churches
prioritise
Meetings: The priority
meeting in the life of the church is the main meeting where the Bible is
preached. This is not to say small groups
and private study, for those who can, are not valuable and to be encouraged but
meeting together under God’s Word is essential for the health and shape and
life of the church.
Ministers/Leaders: Among
demanding character qualities the one competence in the biblical criteria for
leadership is to teach (e.g: Titus 1:9).
Alongside many things but above them all the minister/pastor/elder/leader
is set-aside to ‘hold firm to the trustworthy message as it has been taught’. The church must demand and release this in
its leaders.
3 For how listeners listen
Three R of good listeners:
Relief: Though we should
all desire to grow and progress you do not need nor should you expect to
understand everything in the Bible. God
has given you teachers. Listen to
them. Let them help. Benefit from their gift. Do not worry about not being able to understand
or explain everything.
Responsibility: To choose
your teachers well and regularly and attentively hear them teach and respond to
what you hear.
Do they teach the Bible
and try and obey it?
Do you listen well with an
open Bible, active mind, ready heart and submissive will?
At least 50% of good
preaching is good listening – are you doing your part?
“If I could choose a symbolic sound that
Bethlehem Baptist Church would come to be known for, you know what it would be?
The swish of the pages of 500 Bibles turning simultaneously to the morning and
evening texts. The reason is this: the
source of my authority in this pulpit is not . . . my wisdom; nor is it a
private revelation granted to me beyond the revelation of Scripture. My words
have authority only insofar as they are the repetition, unfolding and proper
application of the words of Scripture. I have authority only when I stand under
authority. And our corporate symbol of that truth is the sound of your Bibles
opening to the text. My deep conviction about preaching is that a pastor must
show the people that what he is saying was already said or implied in the
Bible. If it cannot be shown it has no special authority…I have nothing of
abiding worth to say to you. But God does. And of that word I hope and pray
that I never tire of speaking. The life of the church depends on it.”
(John
Piper recently retired after 33 years from Bethlehem Baptist Church, Min, USA: a
church grown from 400 members to 5000. Quoted from his first sermon in 1980)
Readiness: God works by
his Spirit through his Word taught. Are
you ready? Are you expected? God will work as his Word is preached.
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