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Voddie Baucham - Is Preaching Still Relevant x John Piper & Miguel Núñez · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Well, I know what I think about this question of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the relevance of preaching, so I would first love to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: hear from either of you. The question we've been posed is,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: is preaching, I don't know if they said still relevant,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: as though it were once, and as though some people
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: might think it's not, and I gather you two are
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: here because you wouldn't think that way. You're both preachers,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: so who's popping with you?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think it's interesting that When you
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: ask younger guys about what they do, there's always this
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: tendency to answer with something other than, I am a preacher.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm in ministry, I do this, I do that.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Or even when guys talk about their calling, it's a
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: calling to this or that or some type of ministry
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: or whatever, but not necessarily the verbiage with which I
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: would be more familiar. God called me to preach. That
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: that's the essence and the foundation of what it means
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: to be called of God. That's what we do. But
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: I think there's a sense out there that somehow there's
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: a better way. That there's a more significant thing that
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: we can do than preaching.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Well, if the Bible is the revelation of God, and
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: we know it is, then preaching will always be relevant.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: There is no higher opinion. There is no better opinion
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: than the voice of God. And that is the the will,
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: the knowledge, the wisdom, the understanding that the first man needed,
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: and it's going to be the wisdom that the last
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: man will need. So I think as long as we
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: are creatures and he is the creator, we're always going
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: to be in need of what he has.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: Revealed and what he is like. So preaching will always
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: be relevant.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: So I think the question that I get pushed back
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: on is.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Can you honor the authority and the necessity of the
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Bible another way? In other words, not, say, teaching. Say,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: maybe we should clarify what is preaching as opposed to, say,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: discussing or teaching, analyzing. I mean, are you both making
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: a distinction between teaching and preaching?
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. It's not the same thing. I think there are
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: a couple of differences. I think one is what our
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: goal is in the proclamation. But I also think that
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: there's an authority in our proclamation, an authority in the
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: office of the one who preaches, and an authority that
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: really comes from the word that we preach, and that
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: we are calling forth something. We're speaking forth something, but
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: also calling forth something from the people who are listening
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: to us. We're not just sort of giving information. but
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: actually calling for a response and for obedience to the
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Word of God.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: That's a note of preaching that I think marks it
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: off as unique, and it goes with the authority of
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the Word. If the book has absolute authority, it seems
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: like there's a kind of communication that should correspond to that.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Like you symbolize the nature of the revelation by the
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: kind of the mode of communication, and we call this preaching.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: And that authority is independent of the preacher. It's something
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: that God has given to his word that is beyond us.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: It's higher than us. It's something that will oblige us
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: or will force us to submit to what is in
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: the text. So when we preach, we're trying to be
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: faithful to the text, to what God has said, versus
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: just giving an opinion. I could teach and give my
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: opinion about something, but when I'm preaching, I'm not there
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: to give an opinion.
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: I'm there to.
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: Expose the revelation of God as faithful as I possibly
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: can do it because I'm called to do that. I'm
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: called to be faithful to that revelation and not other.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Sounds like we're all saying there's a thus saith the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Lord quality about it.
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: And do you.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: How does that relate to exposition? I mean, does the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: nature of preaching call forth a certain way of handling
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: the text or not?
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: How does that work?
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: I believe it definitely does because if the text is
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: where the authority lay, then we have to be committed
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  Speaker 2: to exposition because our goal is to determine what it
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: is that God has said, what it is that God
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: demands of and how it is that we can communicate
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  Speaker 2: that most faithfully. So I believe that exposition is the
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: most authentic way that we can do that. Again, there
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: can be times when other types of preaching may fit
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: the bill, but I think that's the most authentic means of.
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: I think that's the strength of expository preaching.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: Is that you try to do exegesis of the text
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: rather than eisegesis of the text. You're trying to get
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  Speaker 3: out of the text what you are supposed to say
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  Speaker 3: rather than making the text say what you are trying
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  Speaker 3: to say.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you what I say to my people
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: and see if you agree. I open my Bible in
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  Speaker 1: front of them and I say, you shouldn't give warrant
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: to anything I say. if I can't show it to
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: you from the book.
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  Speaker 4: If you don't see it.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: In the book, as I say, which is why I
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: say things like look at the second half of the verse,
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  Speaker 1: things like that. If you don't see it in the book,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: the authority isn't inherent in me. But there seems to
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: be this mysterious thing of if you really are onto
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: it in the book, and the Holy Spirit is connecting
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: you in the book, then what comes out of your
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  Speaker 1: mouth has a kind of divine authority.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: It's derivative.
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  Speaker 1: But it's there.
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  Speaker 2: But don't you think it's that authority, though, that causes
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: people to rebel? Don't preach to me.
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: That's good.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: That's the phrase that we hear in our culture. Don't
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: be preachy. And so our culture rebels against preaching. And
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: instead of responding with the authority of God's word, what
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: we've responded with is this approach to preaching that is
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: not as preachy.
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  Speaker 3: Yep, yep.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: And if one generation wants to be less preachy, then
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the next generation doesn't want to preach at all. And hence,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: I believe the question, is preaching still relevant? And I
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: don't think that there's a question about the authority of
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: God's word, the calling that we have. I think the
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: question arises because of a faulty response to a culture
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  Speaker 2: that was in error.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Same issues?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: That's why it's so important that we remember the words
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  Speaker 3: of the Lord to Ezekiel. We should preach the word
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  Speaker 3: whether they listen or not. So my call is not
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: to make people listen to the text. Whether they listen
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: or not, I'm called to expose the word of the Lord.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: You were reflecting on Ezekiel. That thought was in my
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: head earlier this morning when I read the command in
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: 2 Timothy 2. to preach the word. Because it follows
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: with saying, because many people with itching ears are going
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: to go looking for teachers who scratch them. But it
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: doesn't draw the conclusion. Well, if they're going to look
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: for somebody else to scratch, then you better alter your way.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Right there is where you get the clearest New Testament
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  Speaker 1: command to preach the word is in the context of
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: it's inspired by It's in the church. You proclaim it.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: If people walk away to get their ears scratched somewhere else,
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  Speaker 1: you keep preaching the word.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: And the command is preach their word, not preach.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, not preach a word, some word, preach the word.
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  Speaker 2: But isn't it beautiful also that that preaching is what
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: calls forth hearers. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by
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  Speaker 2: the word of Christ. So if we abandon preaching the
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: gospel in order to gain more hearers, We're actually cutting
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  Speaker 2: off our nose to spite our face because it's the
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  Speaker 2: preaching of the Word of God that produces, that brings
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  Speaker 2: forth those hearers of the Word of God. God calls
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  Speaker 2: his people as we preach.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Our time is, I think, just about up. Let me
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: say yes to that another way. There is something about
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  Speaker 1: preaching that accords with the authority of the Bible and
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: the authority of God that lands on people with the
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: way God should be seen. In other words, if you
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: only discuss and only suggest and only commend, God looks
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  Speaker 1: like a kind of, I have a few ideas, would
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  Speaker 1: you please consider this? And in fact, God's not that way.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: But we haven't addressed, just maybe close with this, each
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: of you make a comment. How do you communicate the
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  Speaker 1: humility that you're under it Rather than, since I'm the preacher,
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  Speaker 1: I'm over it and I'm over you. I'm lording it
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: over you. Because that's what you said. People are pushing
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  Speaker 1: back on preachiness. So how do you get the authority
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  Speaker 1: right and not fall prey to that?
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Exposition. That's another thing that exposition does. Because with exposition,
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  Speaker 2: what we're doing is we're saying as clearly as we
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  Speaker 2: possibly can, here's what God says. And it's what God
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  Speaker 2: says to us. Yes. I don't preach what God says
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  Speaker 2: to them. I preach what God... says to us. And
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  Speaker 2: I think it heightens people's understanding of the authority of
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: the word of God when in our preaching we place
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: ourselves under that same authority.
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  Speaker 3: I like the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 4.2
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  Speaker 3: when he talks about he wanted every man.
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  Speaker 4: To see Him as his servant and as an administrator
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  Speaker 4: of the mysteries of God. It's just that. That's all
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  Speaker 4: we are.
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  Speaker 3: A servant and somebody who is administrating something that God.
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  Speaker 4: Has revealed to us. Nothing more than that.
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  Speaker 3: And that way I think it's clear that we are
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  Speaker 3: not it. God is the it. The word is the it.
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  Speaker 4: It's the center. All we are is a microphone in
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  Speaker 4: his hand to be used of him.
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  Speaker 3: And we are to submit as much to that word
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  Speaker 3: than to the person who is listening to my preaching.