This is a question I have heard over and over in the past 20 years. I hear people say, “it’s boring, or I just want to worship.” Another comment is “I can’t understand it, and my children don’t get anything out of it.” I understand that there are some preachers that are not easy to listen too. I have sat under some that simply read their sermons. They were hard to listen to, but God used them to win people to Him. So why preaching? Why not just sing people into Heaven?
Preaching is God’s plan to reach people with the gospel of the Bible. While we may enjoy music and it may stir our hearts it is only a means of getting our hearts ready to hear the preaching of the Word. Music should contain the gospel and it should be biblically correct, but it is not the main road to the heart. It is only a side street that gets our emotions ready to receive the truth of the Bible.
In Romans 10:14, Paul makes it truly clear that people cannot be saved until they hear the gospel, the good news of salvation through Jesus. The means by which they hear is through a preacher. To preach means to proclaim or herald as a public crier would go through the streets and make an announcement. To some measure, we are all to be preachers, but the greatest of these preachers is one who has given their life to the preaching of the gospel. The one who has been called of God to proclaim the gospel as a life-long profession. Many stand in the pulpit, 2 to 3 times a week to teach others about God’s plan for mankind to reach Heaven.
Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”
In I Corinthians 1:21, Paul says that to the world our means of salvation is foolish thinking. We are saved by one who was condemned. We are justified and blessed by one who was cursed and freed by one who was bound and murdered. We place our faith in one we cannot see and believe this God created everything, and with Him, time began. This means of eternal life makes no sense to those who deem themselves as worldly-wise. Their self-proclaimed wisdom cannot fathom our salvation. However, this is God’s plan and He is in control.
I Corinthians 1:21 “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”
In Romans 10:5, we see that God calls certain ones to be ministers of His plan. He anoints them with abilities to equip the saints, those who are saved, to do the work of the ministry. He sends them to areas where people have not heard. This is what we call a missionary. While it is true, we can all read and study to understand God’s word, there are those who have special ministry gifts. When these men are obedient God’s word goes forth with the power of the Holy Spirit. God uses the words of these men to convict the hearts of the unbeliever and the Christian who has stumbled or is seeking to grow.
Romans 10:15 “And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
The preaching of the word of God, by one who has been called of God, is one of the most powerful things I have ever witnessed. When a man is preaching under the direction of the Holy Spirit, God will move in the hearts of the hearers. When this happens, lives are changed. Music may stir the emotions and cause us to think about what God has done, but the word convicts the heart and stirs the soul to surrender our all to God. It is the word that will keep us from sin. It is the word that will give us strength as we read the truths about our God. It is the preaching of God’s word that can affect every area of our lives if we will obey it.
Paul understood the value of preaching. Not only was a great preacher of the gospel, his instruction to Timothy in II Timothy 4:2, was also to “Preach the Word!” Paul spoke in many areas where drama and music were held in high esteem but he did not use those to present the gospel. He used the method that God had designed and ordained to present the truths of the Bible. Music and drama can be great tools of communication, but nothing should take the place of the preaching of the gospel.
II Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
If you are sitting there saying “I get so much more out of music,” then you probably don’t spend much time studying the Word. Music is geared toward our emotions and the way the notes are played can stir different emotions in us, but it should never stir us in the same way that God’s word stirs us.
Preaching must be the priority of the church. God ordained it as the method to give His word to others. In Jonah 3:2, God told Jonah to go to that great city of Nineveh to preach. Noah preached to warn the people of the destruction that was coming. Paul preached to rulers and leaders, pagan cultures, and prison guards. He was used mightily to spread the gospel through the avenue of preaching. Jesus preached wherever he went, and He sent the 12 out in Mark 3:14 to preach the gospel.
God’s method to win the lost is still through preaching. So, if you’re sitting there saying “it’s not for me, or I just don’t enjoy it.” My answer to you would be to pray and ask God to forgive you. Get in the word and get to know the author of the word and your desire to hear it preached will change. It is God’s plan and who are we to question or try to change what God has declared. Yes, it is the foolishness of preaching that the Holy Spirit uses to touch the heart of man.
