"Rather than trying to take the Bible and bring it into the modern day, I try to take the modern day and bring it back to the Bible. And that’s a distinction you want to make. This stuff about culture shaping preaching is taking the Bible and redefining it in modern terms. My goal is to take modern culture and the people of that culture and redefine them in biblical terms so that they are living back in the Scriptures. " John MacArthur
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[Pastor], my message to you is very simple and very precarious. It is 2 Timothy 4:2, "Preach the Word." I call it precarious, because there is a constant temptation to do other things in the place of this. There ARE other things to do in the ministry, as these letters to Timothy show. And we must do them to be found faithful. But none of them is treated as solemnly and forcefully as this one simple exhortation from the apostle: "Preach the Word."
What Is the Word?
The God-Inspired Scripture
- First, in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." This is immediately followed by the command, "I charge you to preach the Word." So it is fitting to say that the Word to be preached is first the Scriptures that Timothy grew up on, the Old Testament. When you preach, preach the inspired Scriptures. The "Word" of 4:2 is the "God-inspired Scripture" of 3:16.
- Don't miss the simple fact that the word "Scripture" means simply "writing" or "letter." This means that the Word of God has come to us in a written form—in a book. Which means that your preparation for preaching will be in large measure book work. You must find your preaching in a book. It must not be dead. It must not be bookish. But it must be book-derived. Book-faithful. Book-saturated. Book-balanced. It must be Spirit-given, Spirit-shaped, Spirit-carried, and Spirit-delivered. But the Spirit inspired the book and broods over the book and lives to exalt the Christ of the book. So preach the Word, [pastor], that is, preach the book.
The Standard of Sound Doctrine
- The second clue that we can see about "the Word" in these verses is in 2 Timothy 4:3 which gives the reason for preaching the Word: Preach the Word, "FOR the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." So the Word to be preached is "sound doctrine."
- Now what does this "sound doctrine" refer to? 2 Timothy 1:13 gives us the answer: "Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me." Sound doctrine in 2 Timothy 4:3 refers to a "standard of sound words" transmitted to Timothy by the apostle Paul. "Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me."
- SO YOU ARE TO TEACH THE WORD AND YOU ARE TO PREACH THE WORD.
- Preaching (kerussõn) is different from teaching. In 2 Timothy 1:10–11, Paul says, "[Christ] abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher." That is, I was appointed for three tasks: heralding or announcing the Truth as a preacher; composing, preserving, and transmitting the authoritative pattern of Truth as an apostle; and explaining and applying the Truth as a teacher.
- So preaching is not just explaining or teaching. Preaching is heralding. Preaching is what a town crier does when there is a message from the king.
