Why do we have a scripture meditation or sermon?

Preachers are not just speakers of God's Word, but also hearers of it, and they are hearers before they are speakers. Preachers are addressed by God's Word just as much as the rest of us, and the power of a sermon derives in part from the fact that authentic preaching is personally committed preaching. The church's pulpit is never disinterested because the preacher, like the rest of us, has a stake in the truth of the gospel. In fact, the sermon's message ultimately comes only through, and not from, the preacher, and it centers on the same God who sends it. "For we do not proclaim ourselves," as Paul put it; "we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord" (2 Corinthians 4:5). Faithful preaching centers where the gospel centers: on the reconciling work of Jesus Christ, especially in his death and resurrection.

Classically speaking, to preach a text is to do in other words what the text does. So, depending on the text, preachers might inform people one Sunday and challenge them the next. They might praise, or lament, or reassure, and if they preach the gospel they often reassure. If they have hold of a wise text, they might counsel us from the pulpit. A faithful preacher will sometimes provoke us if the text is provocative enough. If the text is in the interrogative mood, maybe our preacher will follow suit by turning a big part of the sermon into a repeated question. "Who proved to be neighbor to this man?" "Lord, why are you so far away?" "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"

In any case, the preacher's job is not just to repeat a text, but also to outfit it for the hearing of a congregation. Preachers not only do in other words what the text does, they also says in other words what the text says, dressing it up or down, shaping and coloring and amplifying it in such a way that when people hear the preached text they hear God's Word to them.

What is the job of the preacher?

Every week preachers face the translator's challenge. Like translators, preachers are trying to say in different words the same thing the text says without inadvertently saying a different thing in different words. Even if preachers challenge the text, they will want to know exactly what they're challenging. Because the Bible is a difficult ancient literature, because there is a hermeneutical gap between its world and ours, and because the congregation's local context may affect the acoustics for preaching, the preacher is up against it just to move the text intact from its world to ours.

But beyond accuracy, preachers are also called to shape a text for their congregation, to color it for them, to amplify and apply it. This can be most of the sermon. As a preacher, you have to answer a lot of implied questions. What did this text say? What does it say? Why does it matter? How is it surprising or alarming or assuring? What parallels or challenges to its message do we experience every day? Where is the good news of Jesus in this text?

All this takes at least minor-league linguistic skill. And we understand why. The preacher has to do all this exploring and interpreting and applying of a text in such a way that the text will "take," that it will engage listeners, that it will find traction with them. None of this matters if the Holy Spirit isn't blowing, but if the sermon has been intelligently designed to catch the Spirit's breath, and if the Spirit actually blows, the result is what we mean when we say that preaching in the church is eventful.

What is the service of the Word?

The Scripture Meditation or Sermon is part of the service of the word sequence, which can contain multiple pieces:

• Prayer for Illumination
• Scripture Reading
• Scripture Meditation or Sermon
• Prayer of Application
• Affirmation of Faith and Commitment to Holy Living

Who was called to preach in the Bible?

• Exodus 4:10–12, the Lord sends Moses to speak
• Isaiah 61:1–2, the spirit anoints Isaiah
• Jonah 1:1–2, the Lord calls Jonah to speak to Nineveh
• Matthew 4:23, Jesus proclaims the good news throughout Galilee
• Matthew 10:5–7, the twelve disciples are sent out to proclaim the coming kingdom
• Matthew 28:19–20, the Great Commission
• Luke 4:18–19, Jesus quotes from Isaiah about the spirit's anointing
• John 7:16, Jesus' teaching comes from God
• Acts 1:8, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you"
• Acts 2:38, Peter preaches repentance and baptism
• Acts 15:35, Paul and Barnabas proclaim the Word of God
• Romans 10:14, people need to hear the word in order to believe
• 1 Corinthians 1:21–23, saved because of belief
• 2 Timothy 3:16, Scripture is useful for teaching