Preaching – What Does This Mean?

Encore Post: When you think about it, the first request we make in the Lord’s Prayer sounds strange. Maybe it is the old English “hallowed be thy name.” in modern English, we pray to God to make his name holy. To be holy means to set aside, to dedicate for one Godly purpose. By definition, God’s name is holy.

In our sinful world, however, God’s name is often used as cover for other agendas. When preachers stray from God’s word and teach their own ideas as if they were God’s word, they plant confusion and make God seem something he is not. So, for example, when preachers say that all you have to do to become rich is to believe and give money to that preacher, they make God into a vending machine. False religions of all sorts lead people to trust themselves and false gods rather that the God who loves them. This makes God’s name into something you can’t trust — like every other name. It is no longer holy.

So we pray that God will send faithful pastors, bless the preaching of the gospel so that the lost might be saved and we be made by the Holy Spirit to live according to his Word. We can be confident he will do this. After all, he asked us to pray for this.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

Encore Post: The pastoral ministry is all about feeding Christ’s sheep. Jesus and his Church have given pastors the privilege of distributing the means of grace publicly. Pastors preach God’s Word and the administer his sacraments as God’s representatives and in the name of the church. (See Augsburg Confession 5) We can believe that, when a pastor does these things according to God’s Word, it is God himself speaking to us, baptizing us and giving us the body and blood of Jesus himself with the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. Of all these acts, the one a pastor does most often is preaching.

The New Testament uses several words for preaching, almost all tied to what a herald does. The main word used is κηρύσσω (Kerusso) — to announce, make known, proclaim. (2 Timothy 4:2) Preaching is all about delivering a message from God. That message is mainly the good news of salvation won for us by Jesus on the cross. But it also extends to the whole counsel of God.

Pastors preach not only on Sunday morning during a worship service, but also anytime someone needs to hear from God’s word. It may be urging them to repentance, or may be assuring them that God forgives them for the sake of Jesus Christ. During a worship service, a sermon is much more formal than that. Most often a sermon takes the message in a passage read earlier, it explains those truths to God’s people, and urges them to believe these words. It is not about teaching, presenting all kinds of facts to be remembered. It is not entertainment, helping people to escape from their day-to-day lives just for a little while.

Preaching is all about changing the lives of those who hear the message. It does not do so because of the pastors skill, his inspiring insights, or how hilarious is jokes are. The point of a sermon is to bring the message that God put it in the scriptures to people. It’s all about changing lives, and strengthening the faith of those who hear. You may remember the words of a talented speaker for a long time. But a sermon is God’s gift to you. It contains the Gospel, which gives you his grace. It is the very words of eternal life.

Tag: Preaching

Why Pray for God to Make His Name Holy….

Preach the Word