What is at stake on Sunday morning when the pastor steps behind the pulpit? Is it a matter of rhetorical preference, or is a supernatural event about to unfold? Romans 10:14 offers a series of questions that answer that question.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
ESV
Beyond the old phrases often thrown around, preaching is not merely inspiring, presenting scripture, provoking thought, stepping on toes, or meddling. Those who believe are saved through the folly of what is preached (1 Corinthians 1:21). It’s a matter of life and death.
Law and Death
A ministry of death isn’t nearly as morbid as it sounds. Paul contrasted the temporary glory of the old covenant carved on stone tablets with the permanent glory of the ministry of righteousness in the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:7-11). The law had aroused our sinful passions to bring fruit for death, but we have died to the written code enabling us to serve in the new way of the Spirit (Romans 7:4-6). The law brings about death but paves the way to life (Galatians 2:19).
Gospel and Life
The gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). God is pleased to save those who believe through the folly of preaching (1 Corinthians 1:21). Through the law we die to the law and “have been crucified with Christ.” As Paul stated to the Galatians, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
We must hear the law preached so sharply that Paul would describe its effect as crushing or killing. We need to hear a gospel so filled with grace that the apostle would have to answer forthcoming objections against such freedom and forgiveness. Such law and gospel preaching destroy any illusion of being good enough or too bad for redemption. It slays us with the condemnation of God’s perfect judgment and resurrects us in the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
When Paul came to Troas to preach the gospel, the fragrance of knowing Christ spread everywhere. It was an aroma of life to life and death to death. Modern pulpits would do well to smell of Christ. Such preaching is a matter of life and death, but if preachers omit speaking “in Christ,” they are like peddlers of God’s word (2 Corinthians 2:12-17). Good and biblical preaching is a matter of life and death, and it leads from death to life.