©Living Hope Church 27 Feb 2005

The Purpose of Preaching 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Introduction

A. We have undertaken a study of The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. A general overview of this letter goes like this:

1. In the first 6 chapters, Paul will explain his concerns about this church.

2. In chapters 7-16, Paul will answer their questions. Chapter 16 has a personal ending.

B. In chapter 1 we saw the following:

1. Greeting and thanksgiving (1 Corinthians 1:1-9). Paul expresses his appreciation before telling this church about his concerns. Paul has an eternal perspective.

2. The problem in Corinth is divisions in the church (1 Corinthians 1:10-17).

3. The answer to that problem is the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18-31). The gospel was on the shelf and Paul reminds them of the message and effect of the cross.

C. Now, in our text today, Paul reminds the Corinthians about how he first came to them. The account is recorded in Acts 18. Paul came preaching.

Acts 18:4-11 (ESV) And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. [5] When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. [6] And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." [7] And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. [8] Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. [9] And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, [10] for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people." [11] And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

1. This account in Acts 18 is a wonderful description of preaching.

· Paul reasoned and tried to persuade that Jesus was the Christ (v. 4). · Paul was occupied with the Word (v. 5). · Many hearing Paul believed the gospel (v. 10). · Paul taught them the Word of God for 18 months (v. 11).

2. This text is quite possibly the supreme text on preaching in all of the Scriptures. This text challenges anyone who tries to preach the gospel.

D. This text is about The Purpose of Preaching. 1. Paul lays out the three essentials of preaching. Good (effective, God-glorifying) preaching will consistently feature these three items.

I. One, preaching is the testimony of God (see 1 Corinthians 2:1).

A. Paul did preach the testimony of God. Paul did not use lofty speech or wisdom. Paul was concerned to avoid the rhetoric of the day. The message was the point, not the messenger.

B. What is the testimony of God? In one sense, we could possibly answer creation but in the best sense of it, the testimony of God is the Scriptures.

1. Jesus Christ came to this earth full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ put God on display for Israel and the world to see. God was speaking.

Hebrews 1:1-3 (ESV) Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, [2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. [3] He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

2. The role of the pastor, above all other duties, is to preach the Word of God.

The first mark of a healthy church is expositional preaching. It is not only the first mark; it is far and away the most important of them all, because if you get this one right, all of the others should follow.... My main role, and the main role of any pastor is expositional preaching. Mark Dever in Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (p 25)

2 Timothy 4:1-5 (ESV) I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: [2] preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. [3] For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [4] and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. [5] As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

3. If you are ever in a situation where you are “church shopping”, what should you consider as being of first importance? The answer:

Ex: Preaching (not youth, not worship, not friendliness, not same age, not size)!!

C. When we meet, the minimum expectation you bring should be that we encounter God in praise and song (worship) and in preaching that is a Word from God.

Matthew 4:4 (ESV) But he answered, "It is written, " 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "

II. Two, preaching is proclaiming Jesus Christ and Him crucified (see 1 Corinthians 2:2).

A. Gospel preaching will always include the cross.

1. Final things? Marriage? James? Always based on the gospel (final message?). 2. The danger of moralism (modern day Pharisees).

B. Messages do attempt to be helpful. They attempt to help with those things that matter most.

So I would lay it down as a basic proposition that the primary task of the church is not to educate man, is not to heal him physically or psychologically, it is not to make him happy. I will go further; it is not even to make him good. These are things that accompany salvation; and when the church does perform her true task she does incidentally educate men and give them knowledge and information, she does bring them happiness, she does make them good and better than they were. But my point is that those are not her primary objectives. Her primary purpose is not any of these; it is rather to put man into the right relationship with God, to reconcile man to God. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in Preachers and Preaching (p 30)

1. We chain ourselves to the cross.

We never, therefore, move on from the cross of Christ - only into a more profound understanding of the cross. David Prior in TBST 1 Corinthians Commentary (p 51)

Ex: Separating Eph. 1-3 from 4-6 (maximize your life). The word therefore means we must pay attention to 1-3 before doing 4-6.

III. Preaching is in demonstration of the Spirit and of power (not plausible words of wisdom).

A. This is the folly and the glory of preaching.

Depend upon it that there is but little preaching in the world, and it is a mystery of grace and of divine power that God’s cause is not ruined in the world when we consider the qualifications of many of its professed ministers to preach it. My own performances in this way fill me with disgust. I have never made, much less preached, a sermon in my life, and I am beginning to despair of ever being able to do it. James Thornwell quoted by Tony Sargent in The Sacred Anointing (p 17)

1. To which Martyn Lloyd-Jones replied:

Oh! How I long to know exactly what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 and to experience it in my ministry. I have become tired of all else and when I read of Whitefield I feel I have never really preached in my life... I have a feeling that I have really only preached twice in my life, and on both occasions I was dreaming. I still remember the awful feeling of disappointment, on both occasions, when I found I was only dreaming. If only I could preach like that in the pulpit when I was awake. Martyn Lloyd-Jones quoted by Tony Sargent in The Sacred Anointing (p 18)

B. What is this “demonstration of the Spirit and of power”? If we look in the wrong place we get the wrong answer. In Acts 18 we note that nothing spectacular happened in Corinth.

C. The answer is changed lives.

1. The fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV) And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." 2. Paul puts it this way later on in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (ESV) Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, [10] nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

C. Preaching, then, consists of content that must be presented in a way that can be understood and the appropriate results.

A preacher should have the skill to teach the unlearned simply, roundly, and plainly; for teaching is of more importance than exhorting. When I preach, I regard neither doctors nor magistrates, of whom I have above forty in the congregation. I have all my eyes on the servant maids and the children. And if the learned are not well pleased with what they hear, well, the door is open. Martin Luther quoted by Martyn Lloyd-Jones in Preaching and Preachers (p 128)

1. The expectation at Living Hope is that we not only hear the Word, we do the Word.

A commitment to expositional preaching is a commitment to hear God’s Word - not just to affirm that it is God’s Word but to actually submit yourself to it. Mark Dever in Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (p 26-27)

2. The fruit should be faith that rests not on the wisdom of man, but faith that rests in the power of God.

Romans 14:17 (ESV) For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

D. A word about the messenger. The messenger is human. The issue is not primarily how charming the messenger is, the issue is the message. The Word of God.

1. Paul came in weakness (armed with the gospel) and “in fear and much trembling.” Paul was dead earnest about the seriousness of the message. The message matters.

2. It is the responsibility of the messenger to stay out of the way of the message. The messenger must be true to whatever he is (false prophets screamed the loudest).

These verses [1 Corinthians 2:1-5] do not prohibit diligent preparation, passion, clear articulation, and persuasive presentation. Rather, they warn against any method that leads people to say, “What a marvelous preacher!” rather than, “What a marvelous Savior!” D.A. Carson in The Cross and Christian Ministry (p 35).

3. While we have preachers who minister corporately, there is a certain sense in which each one of us preaches at times.

Luke 9:59-60 (ESV) To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." [60] And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

1 Corinthians 11:26 (ESV) For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Ex: When we counsel another person, we preach. Different style, same content.

Close

A. Preaching (live!) is essential because the Spirit of God moves in ways that otherwise do not happen in a person’s life. Preaching equips us to live truth and proclaim truth.

1. Because preaching is vital in the life of a church I have a favor to ask of you. Please pray regularly for me and whoever else preaches at Living Hope.

B. In summary, the purpose of preaching is:

1. The testimony of God.

2. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

3. A demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

· A faithful church will have these traits in abundance.

C. Preaching is a significant part of what we are all about. Changing lives for the glory of God!

1. Therefore, prepare your heart (quiet, restful) before you hear a sermon. And God, who is faithful, will speak to your heart.