Why Preach?
As BRBC we have been journeying through a series on the life of the Apostle Peter. Today we consider Peter's preaching (Acts 2:14–41). It raises an important question: Why preach?
Why has God chosen to use the voice of an ordinary person to proclaim His extraordinary message about Christ? Why not simply rely on people reading the Scriptures for themselves, or leave the gospel to quiet conversations in homes, cafés or market places? Why gather people together to hear someone speak? Why did Jesus encourage His followers to preach?
God has always delighted to work through people proclaiming His Word. He raised up prophets to declare, "This is what the LORD says." John the Baptist came preaching, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." Jesus Himself travelled from town to town "proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God" (Luke 8:1). At Pentecost, Peter preached Christ crucified and risen, and three thousand responded. John Stott observed, "Preaching is indispensable to Christianity. Without preaching a necessary part of its authenticity has been lost."
The Apostle Paul later wrote, "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ" (Romans 10:17). He questions: "How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (Romans 10:14). God's chosen pattern is simple, yet profound: truth is proclaimed, hearts are pierced and lives are transformed. Preaching is "the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called." (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Personal Bible reading and everyday conversations about Jesus as we "gossip the gospel" with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues remains crucial - every Christian is called to bear witness to Christ. Yet public preaching perhaps is unique in God's purposes. It gathers people around God’s Word, calling wanderers home, comforting the broken, challenging the complacent, convicting the sinner and strengthening the believer. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, preaching becomes far more than a lecture; it becomes a divine encounter. "When the gospel is preached in the name of God, it is as if God himself spoke in person." (John Calvin)
Preaching is God's appointed means of proclaiming God's unchanging message through God's ordinary servants by God's powerful Spirit. The messenger is imperfect, but the message is perfect. The preacher may be weak, but God's Word is living and active. Charles Haddon Spurgeon urged, "Preach Christ, always and evermore. He is the whole gospel."
As we listen to a person preach, may we ask ourselves a searching, personal question: What is God saying to me? May we come with open Bibles, open ears and, above all, open hearts, ready not simply to hear the Word, but to receive it, believe it and live it.
Revd Michael Hogg