5 Feb 2024
We have seen previously that it is always God’s purpose that his people, bound to him by covenant grace, should become the light-bearers of divine truth to a broken world. We noted that Israel was first assigned to do this, but Israel failed (recorded in the OT), but in the face of Israel’s failure God promised an obedient servant through whom his promise to Abraham to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth can be fulfilled – the servant was the Messiah, the Son of God incarnate.
In the previous sharing, we also noted that the task was subsequently assigned to the Church of God following the completion of the mission and task of the Servant of God.
The unseen heavenly Father penetrated his world through the testimony and witness of the distinctly different, body lives of the redeemed people – the Church – its very distinctiveness is a major means of the advance of the gospel. Every act of pale conformity to the world’s culture in which it is planted constitutes a denial of its purpose and a deprivation of its power (hence the need to realise the conflict between the church and the spirit of this age). If the church is to fulfil her calling to be the light-bearer of divine truth to a broken world (after the Fall), it must authenticate the message by its own transformed character and diligent obedience to all the Lord has commanded his people.
This is where accurate theology, and knowledge and application of the Scripture come in – we have shared how theology and Scripture lead to Christian living. The grand aim and objective is to bring every individual to spiritual maturity, and collectively the church. The means for this is described as making the word of God fully known (Col.1:21) through the preaching and teaching in, and by the church, enabled through the might of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is more concerned with the ‘what’ of preaching and teaching than with the ‘how’. We like to hear the sermons and teaching we like and often imagine that we can judge their value on that criterion alone. If the Bible is not in the ‘driving seat’ of the sermon or teaching, there will be no lasting change of the sort that the New Testament sees as normal. So the important element is the content of the preaching and teaching. The contrast is between the Word of the Lord, which is living and enduring (1 Peter 1:23) and the word of the preacher or teacher which at the best is flawed and transient.
The secular culture is continually seeking (with the work of the evil one) to conform us, with its myriad messages subtly undermining God’s revealed truth. We need to be hearing God’s Word, clearly explained, faithfully taught and engagingly applied every time we come together as the people of God. And this brings us to the sort of preaching and teaching that changes the church. We shall share this later. But for the moment, ponder: Every time we mention God we become theologians, and the only question is whether we are going to be good ones or bad ones. And this touches both thought and life. Let us not shrink back at the mention of theology. It is right and good theology, coupled with right sort of preaching and teaching, that would change the church the way God desires.