The importance of the Ministry of the Word
Sometimes we over complicate things. The whole Old Testament could be summed up in a couple of sentences- ‘God our Creator chose and redeemed a people for his own glory and their own eternal benefit, and called them to be a means of blessing to the whole world. Obedience to his Word would bring them blessing and joy, but often they failed to take it seriously or let it affect their lives, in spite of his steadfast love and patience towards them’. The essential requirement of God for his saved people, who owe him everything, is that they should be obedient to his revealed Word and will for their lives.
In the even greater mercy and grace shown in the New Testament through the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God, who became our sin bearing substitute on Calvary’s tree, so that we might be set free from the penalty and power of sin over us, Jesus required the same of his disciples- “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love….These things I have spoken to you, that your joy may be full” (John 15:10,11).The Word of the Lord is important, and obedience to it is the means of blessing and joy!
Let us go back to the Old Testament for two examples of this principle from the post exilic or last historical period.
Ezra, is described in the following impressive way-
“The good hand of the Lord was on him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:9,10). Ezra learned the Scriptures and loved to study them; he lived in obedience to that Word himself; and he loved to expound and teach God’s Word to others which he knew was crucial for their well -being. Unsurprisingly, Nehemiah called on him to preach and teach the Scriptures to the people at a great gathering (Neh.Ch 8), which led to mass repentance for their sins and then great joy as they began to obey God’s commandments and will for their lives. A great revival of faith both nationally and as the church of the Old Testament took place, and under God Ezra and his helpers explaining and applying the Word of God was the means of this tremendous spiritual awakening. If God’s people are to be healthy they need the Word of God preached to them!
Let’s take another example from the book of Malachi (=my messenger) which is perhaps the last book of the Old Testament. God is complaining about the poor quality and devotion of the priests and he calls them back to what they should be by describing how different things once were, using Levi as the example- “He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 2:5-7). What God wanted from the leaders of his church in Old Testament times was that they walk with him in consistency of life, and in faithful teaching of his Word. Without this kind of leadership his people struggle and go astray.
When we turn to the pages of the New Testament we find the same concern for leaders of the Church then and today. Allowing that the leaders in the Old testament were priests, and this is a word not used of leadership in the Christian Church (rather the word is presbyter/elder/overseer/pastor [see Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5-9], all the words describing the same office), the requirements of leadership are strikingly similar- godliness of life, and being able and willing to teach the Word of God. In the great Commission of the risen Lord Jesus to his Apostles he calls them to “make disciples” by preaching the good news of the Gospel to people and “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19,20). Timothy, a young minister, is told to “preach the Word” with the conviction that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (II Tim.3:16-4:2). The one qualification required of an overseer/presbyter other than godliness of life, is that he is “able to teach” (I Tim.3:2, see also Titus 1:9). He must hold to and teach faithfully Apostolic doctrine and practice, and be able to resist those who would depart from it.
Paul, in Acts Ch.20 sums up what he believes is required of leaders in the Church. The passage describes his emotional meeting with the leaders/elders of the Church in Ephesus who travel some 35 miles to meet with him. Paul is in a rush back to Jerusalem and wishes to meet with these leaders of a church that is very dear to him and that he had spent about three years of his life with, believing he will not have another opportunity to see them. He reminds them of the example of ministry he showed them and is able without embarrassment to say “you know how I lived among you” (v18). His life had backed up his preaching and teaching. He warns them to “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for (pastor) the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (v28). Notice the order, they are to care for themselves and their families spiritually first and out of that walk with God pastor the church of God. As shepherds they are to pastor primarily by leading the sheep to food and water- to feed them. Paul reminds them that what the Lord called him to do as an evangelist/pastor was “to testify to the grace of God” that had so changed his life (v24). He did this by preaching and teaching them about “anything that was profitable” which meant to Paul “the whole counsel of God” (vs 20, 27) not just his favourite bits of Scripture! He preached “repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” proclaiming Jesus as the answer to the world’s deepest need of a Saviour who calls us to follow him. He also took every opportunity to share the Word “teaching you in public and from house to house” (v20). His was not just a Sunday pulpit ministry- crucial and top priority as that should be- but he taught small groups and one to one. He took every opportunity he could to share the Apostolic message of the Gospel of the Grace of God in Christ and to open part of the Scriptures. That task needed to be shared with others, as we notice that the leaders were plural in the church at Ephesus, as in every other New Testament church.
If ordained ministry is to be faithful to what the Lord wants of leaders in his church today we must follow Paul’s example and the given New Testament pattern of ministry. In a parting comment towards the end of his meeting with the Ephesian elders he beautifully states-
“I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (v32). God’s Word is the means of building the church with new believers and also building mature and fruitful disciples of the Lord.
The Anglican Ordination services for a presbyter/’priest’ makes it clear how very important the ministry of the Word is. Right at the beginning their first declared duty is-
“To proclaim the word of the Lord, to call those who hear to repentance, and in Christ’s name to pronounce and declare the forgiveness of sins” (page 565).
The first question they are asked is-
“Do you believe and accept the Holy Scriptures as revealing all things necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?’ They are required to answer “I do”.
Further they are asked “In your ministry will you expound the Scriptures and teach that doctrine”. The required answer is “By the help of God I will” (page 566, Ordination Services Two, The Book of Common Prayer). The older Order One Ordination Service is even stronger about all this (see page 534 ibid).
Other things are mentioned as desirable in the ordained candidate but let these examples be sufficient to show the centrality of the Ministry of the Word and its crucial importance, and prayer is earnestly called for to ask God to enabled the candidates to keep their promises, for without his help they would not be able to.
Why then is the preaching in our churches so often so poor? Because we so easily forget what we have been called to do and what our priorities are. We need to repent where necessary and “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (I Tim.4:16). Preaching requires that we are humble enough to preach our sermons to ourselves first before we preach them to others. It requires us to seriously engage with the Scriptures so that we teach its’ message faithfully and properly, not the latest newspaper headline in a little moral essay. Rather by expounding a verse or passage of Scripture, with relevant and lively application, and in prayerful dependence on the help of the Holy Spirit, we are to be heralds of the Lord’s Word. We must avoid dullness when talking about such wonderful truth, we must not be longer than our gifts allow nor shorter than the text requires (!), and we must labour so that people can understand and see the relevance to their lives. When this is done, by God’s Grace, preaching is lifechanging.
Why also does the Church so easily succumb to the politically correct views of our day and generation? Above all, God wants the disciples of Jesus to be not just hearers of his Word but doers of it, and to fashion our lives by its’ teaching as “God’s Word written” (Art.20, 39 Articles). Of godly and faithful leaders, the writer to the Hebrews can say-
“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (13:7).
May we have more leaders like that, and may God give us his grace and strength that we may be what he wants us to be, and that our lives and churches may be fashioned by his Word.