The Gospel and Preaching (Part 1)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the apostle

Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is

Mike Abendroth, and today we have a special recorded show. I was in Nebraska with Tom and with Gordon, men who are involved in the

Nebraska Gospel Network, and I did a conference entitled In Step with the Gospel, and the first message

I did was the gospel and preaching, and pastors were there. It was located at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Kearney.

Pastors and other leaders, the gospel and preaching. So today on No Compromise Radio ministry, we are gonna hear part one of a message

I did at a conference, Nebraska Gospel Network, the gospel and preaching.

So stay tuned. Today is part one, and then next week, we'll listen to part two of In Step with the

Gospel, really a message on preaching and the gospel and how they're related and how the content determines how we actually preach.

I like to ask our elders this question. Here's the question. If the Holy Spirit left your ministry today, what would happen?

Whatever ministry you have, lay ministry, maybe Sunday school teaching, maybe preaching, if the Spirit of God were theoretically able to leave your ministry, what would happen?

Would everything just carry on as is, or would everything fall apart? We know what the right answer is.

Everything should fall apart. I ask myself this question all the time. What happens when

I die, get fired, or leave the ministry that I'm at now?

What will happen? In other words, is the ministry built on me, or is the ministry built on Christ Jesus and His good news?

You see, the gospel, a declaration about what God has done and preaching are very, very coordinated in this particular regard.

The very essence of the gospel determines how it should be preached. What the gospel is determines the way it's communicated.

News has to be disseminated in a certain way. So think about the word gospel.

Think about euangelion and what good news means. Victory overtones. Military overtones.

The general has won victory and a courier comes back. A runner comes back and he says what?

I am the gospel. Does he mind the gospel? Is he in fact the gospel?

No, he declares something that's already been done. He declares a accomplished victory.

And so by definition, the gospel, good news, has to be declared in such a way that the emphasis is on who won the victory, not on the person delivering the good news.

And so tonight we're gonna look at 1 Corinthians 2 so that we remember that we are not to be exalted, we are not to draw attention to ourselves, and we are megaphones, or as we say in New England, some of this is just gonna slip in, so I'll just tell you right now.

We are to be megaphones for the gospel. That's what we're to be. We are not the gospel.

It is a category error to say this good news about Christ Jesus, this joyful proclamation that Jesus Christ cloaked himself with humanity, lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death, a penal substitutionary death, was literally raised from the dead, and he's gonna come back soon.

That news has to be proclaimed in such a way that we are minimized and the gospel is maximized.

So let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 2, and it is my thought that we have a lot of preaching in America.

Think about all the liberal churches across the country. Think about all the mainline churches. We have a lot of sermons.

But just because we have a lot of sermons, it doesn't mean the churches are healthy. And if you turn your

Bibles to 1 Corinthians 2, verse five, this is really going to be my theme. I want the gospel to have lasting effects as we minimize the courier or the runner and maximize who

God is and his power. Now, I'll talk more about it later, but if you look at verse five, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

That's what we're after in our ministry. Don't you want that in your ministry? That's our goal. That's why we have the

Gospel Network. Think about the gospel in this way. It is good news declared in such a way that the good news is magnified and not eclipsed.

That's the whole message tonight. It's good news should be preached in such a way where the courier or the messenger, we the preacher, we the

Bible study teacher, we the Sunday school teacher, don't magnify ourselves.

But like with John the Baptist, Christ must increase and I must, what? Decrease. You can even think of overtones of Zechariah about it's not our might and not our power or anything else.

This is God's good news. If I carry the metaphor of the military courier out a little bit more, did we win the battle?

If we're the announcers, if we're the proclaimers, we didn't win the battle. Actually, we were fighting against God.

We were going AWOL against God. We had committed treason and God captured us and then turned us into couriers.

We don't deserve any credit. I do the gospel,

I live the gospel, I act out the victory declaration. Those are all wrong ways to think about the gospel unless you can't speak and you might be a deaf mute and somebody has to mime it out.

That's the only way it would ever work. Good news in content, good news in delivery form.

In other words, the nature of the gospel determines its communication. Listen to what

Michael Horton says. Do you guys like Michael Horton here? When he's right, I like him, when he's not right, I don't like him.

Is that all right? I think R .C. said no one has more than 80 % of his theology down as finite sinful creatures.

By the way, that is gonna be one of the exciting things about heaven, isn't it? Perfect theology.

And for me, I now forget all kinds of things. And so in heaven, I'll never forget anything that's good about the gospel.

And by the way, think in big picture about the conference. I love what D .A. Carson said. Here's what

D .A. said. My students don't always remember everything I've taught them. Can you imagine your congregations don't remember everything you've taught them?

You probably won't even remember everything from this conference. But he said, they do remember things that I talk about all the time and what

I talk about with passion. And so if we forget the gospel in this generation and assume it's just for Christians, for unbelievers, and once they become

Christians, you've got that down and move on, then we're gonna have a generation who forgets the gospel. And we'll talk more about that next week.

Here's what Horton said. Instead of reporting the news, we have become the news.

In fact, today, we often hear Christians speak of living the gospel and being the gospel as if we do anything to be considered a supplement to God's victory in Christ Jesus.

We do not need a reporter to announce to us that we need to be better parents, spouses, and friends, that we should have integrity in our relationships, to be less selfish and more giving, get in the game of life instead of standing on the sidelines and so forth.

Horton said, only the radical news concerning Jesus Christ can distract us from all trivial pursuits and transform us from the inside out.

So this gospel must be heralded and it must be heralded in such a way where Christ is exalted and we are minimized.

So let's look at 1 Corinthians 2, 1 -5 tonight. Here's the great thing about this passage.

Even though you've preached it before and taught it before, there's just something about the spirit of God's work through preaching and through illumination.

My favorite story was when I was in India and I was given a topic and it was 2 Timothy 4, 1 -5.

And there was a guest speaker who was speaking just before I was speaking and I was sitting in the front row and the guest speaker was

John MacArthur. And John MacArthur got up and said, I've decided to change my mind. I'm preaching from 2 Timothy 4, 1 -5.

Everybody looked over at me like you're so dust. And I thought, you know what? I'm gonna get up and preach that anyway because it's rich, it's good, it's important.

And so let's look at 1 Corinthians 2 today so that we say to ourselves, Lord, by the power that you've given me,

I want to exalt Christ in the proclamation of the good news so that I don't become the star of the story.

Luther said it this way. In short, I will preach it, the word of God, teach the word of God, write the word of God, but I will constrain no man by force for faith must come freely.

I imposed indulgences and all the papers but never with force.

And listen to what he did. This is classic. I simply taught, preached, and wrote

God's word. Otherwise, I did nothing. And while I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends

Philip and Amsdorff, Amsdorff, by the way, is a man, not a beer. The word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it.

And so here we have in 1 Corinthians, it's almost a trifecta of weakness, a supposed weak gospel, supposed weak converts later in chapter one, and now weak delivery method.

I typically don't do a lot of alliteration in my messages, but this one just happened to work.

So we're gonna do it that way. I think Jay Adams wrote a little article called Always Alliterate. He doesn't want you to alliterate, but since you heard that I was a

Baptist, maybe you think I always alliterate, but I don't. Let me give you four words tonight to explain what

Paul was telling the Corinthians, designed for them to keep the gospel in its right and supreme place.

So that the message that the believers hear has nothing to do with us.

Four words, four simple words, but I believe are reflective of the text in 1

Corinthians 2, one to five. Preaching that rests in the power of God, minimizing the courier.

Number one, disregard. Disregard. You must have a total and complete disregard for human methods that distract and distract from the gospel.

Detract and distract from the gospel. Let's look at verse one.

And when I came to you, brethren, remember Paul had been there Acts chapter 18, 18 months.

When I came to you, brethren, I set the example. I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

Paul said, I'm not the savior. I preached the savior. I wasn't the focal point.

I was preaching another. The way to see this in context is look back at chapter one, verse 17.

Chapter one, verse 18, through the end of the chapter is all kind of parathetical. But if you read 1 17 and 2 1, you'll get the flow.

You'll get exactly what's going on here. Look at 1 17, 1 Corinthians. For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Now chapter two, verse one. And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

And he says with emphasis, and I, when I came to you. Paul's not making an exception of himself.

He said, no, this is what I did. I purposely disregarded the rhetoric that was floating around Corinth.

And he's basically saying, do what I did when I was at Corinth. I'm thinking if Paul walked into many churches today,

I think he'd be appalled at the focus on the person. Now I get there's personality.

I get Phillips Brooks that says, preaching is true through personality. I get the Puritans, light and heat and all that.

And God could just have us read scripture. But he's called us and ordained us to preach.

I'm not after our personalities that we should all be monotone, but we are not the heroes of the gospel.

Paul doesn't just say, don't go for that pragmatism. He's basically saying it's ungodly. And this language here that you look at, proclaiming to you the testimony with lofty speech or wisdom, the

NASV says, it's language that is conducive to self display.

It's language that I'm gonna talk in such a way that you're going to like me and maximize me.

Matter of fact, that's what they did at Corinth. The speakers would go around and say, I'm gonna speak in such a way that I'm gonna see if I can get the most money.

You ever go to Venice beach in California or other places that are big cities and people try to do things for money and they have their little fiddler box open.

The more they can do certain things, the more money they get. And Paul says, that's not what I do. Who here knows anything about peacocks?

Any do we have in Nebraska peacock farmers? Ostrich farmers? What color are the feet of peacocks?

Black. And Thomas Watson, the Puritan, Spurgeon talked about it as well, said,

God has given the peacock black feet that he may not be proud of his bright feathers. And that in light manner, he has allowed his people to have the black feet of their own sinfulness, that they may not glory in any of the graces which

God the Holy Spirit has given them. But that while they have those graces so bright and beautiful, they may still look down on their own natural depravity and humble themselves before God.

Isn't that good? That is excellent. One commentator said, ornamentation intended to please and amuse the congregation is what

Paul's saying don't do. Manipulating the congregation, trying to get applause.

When the news is outside of us, the news isn't inside of us, the news is outside of us.

It's been done. The news is good news even if you were never born. The news is good news even if you didn't believe it.

So Paul's distancing himself from self -assertion. Because if he asserts himself as the courier, as the runner, as the proclaimer, as the herald, it doesn't make any sense.

Now, I don't know what your text says in chapter two, verse one, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. It could be that, bearing witness of God's plan, or it could be translated, or it could be with a textual variance, it could be the mystery of God.

That's probably the best translation. The mystery of God. Something that was revealed.

Something that couldn't be concocted. Something that was uncovered. Either way, Paul said, I proclaim this truth.

I wasn't that truth. I disregarded all that. My goal is to manifest the truth of God.

My goal is not fishing for a compliment. I actually know how to do this very well. I know how to stand at the door as the congregation goes out the door, and I know exactly what to say to get them to say, that was a good sermon,

Pastor Mike. I know exactly how to do that. And that's exactly what Paul was trying to say wasn't the right thing to do.

And by the way, this is very, very encouraging for me because I don't have to be the debate champion to be a faithful preacher.

I don't have to have eloquence. I don't have to be the best at something. I can be like a poor fisherman called by the grace of God, drawn by the

Father. The Son has redeemed me and said, I put you into gospel ministry. And whether I have a

Nebraska accent or whether I have stuttering, it's about the gospel anyway.

Paul said, I'm not the main attraction. Now, Paul is not saying, be a lazy preacher.

Should we be logical, biblical, articulate? Should we practice?

Should we study? Of course. Thomas Goodwin is one of my favorite Puritans.

This has nothing to do with this, but this is just, it's fun to talk about anyway. Thomas Goodwin said that Adam and Christ, the last

Adam, have all men hanging on their girdles. It's just kind of cool if you ask me.

All men are in Adam, and then those that have been saved are in Christ Jesus. This same

Thomas Goodwin, when he first went to Cambridge University in 1613, he wasn't saved and he said,

I'm gonna be the wittiest, most eloquent, passionate preacher out there. Then he got saved.

And he adopted what is called the Puritan principle. And here's what he said. I came to this resolved principle that I would preach holy and altogether sound and wholesome words without affection of wit and vanity of eloquence.

I have continued in that purpose and practiced these threescore years. I have preached what

I thought was truly edifying, either for conversion or bringing them up to eternal life.

Isn't that good? It's exactly right. This is our marching orders. We, with deliberate choice, say,

I'm not gonna come and be this great speaker to win you over, because what happens when a better speaker comes by?

What happens when someone more eloquent comes in? Then your false converts will be easily led away.

Spurgeon said, the power that is in the gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher. Otherwise, men would be the converter of souls.

Disregard, number one. Number two, the second word describes Paul and how he wants people's faith to rest in the power of God.

That word is determine. Disregard, number one. Determine, number two. I just used the word that was in the

English text in chapter two, verse two. For I determined. Contextually, this is Paul's reason for his method.

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, even Him crucified.

I made a resolution. I said to myself, I'm going to be determined with a conscious, deliberate resolution that this is what

I'm going to preach. I could say it this way. Maybe pastors might get offended, but that's all right.

Paul preached less than he knew with firm purpose.

Paul said, I'm going to be bullheaded and I'm gonna teach less than I know with this adamance, unyielding.

That word there, determine, is where we get the word judge, decide, consider. It's a deliberate act of the will.

Paul just didn't say, you know what? It's just gonna be random. When I get there, I'll just open my mouth and just start talking.

Whatever kind of comes out, comes out. Paul knew ahead of time. A, when I get to that town, I'll probably be in jail.

And B, but when I'm in jail, I'm gonna have with deliberate purpose, I've got a one -track mind, I'm preaching

Christ Jesus. It produces interesting effects. Verse 18 of chapter one, for the word of the cross is to those who are perishing, what?

Foolishness, it's moronic to them, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. Paul is working through that passage and he says, you know, the

Jews, they think it's a stumbling block. The Greeks think it's foolishness. A crucified

Messiah, you mean your Messiah's hanging on a tree? It was offensive, it was shameful. Jesus, the criminal, it's madness.

Matter of fact, crucifixion back in those days is like a swear word. I never thought about that until I would read it in the commentaries where people would give crucified people a wide berth.

You wouldn't go take your kids over and look. You'd wanna get away. It was something that was embarrassing, reprehensible, shameful.

One man said that one man dies on a piece of wood on a nondescript hill in a nondescript part of the world and thereby determines the destiny of every person who has ever lived seems stupid.

Reminds me of Ted Turner who would say, all Christians are losers. So Paul said, I'm coming to town and I've determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and his love.

I've determined to know nothing among you except the four spiritual laws. I've determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ as an example of love.

I've determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and he had victory over the minions and demons.

But Paul goes right back to the apex. I do believe Jesus died as an example, that it was love, that he had victory over demons.

But at the top is substitution or atonement, penal substitution. Jesus Christ and even him crucified.

Perfect tense, crucified back then and continuing with effects now crucified, the crucified

Savior. That was the one he preached, the crucified Savior. I got a phone call on Sunday night this week, just a few days ago.

We had some neighbors, he's 95, she's 88. She just died and they're both unbelievers.

And her daughter called and said, Mike, would you do the funeral? And I said, it'd be my pleasure to do the funeral.

She said, well, my mom was kind of a Lord's Prayer, Psalm 23 kind of lady.

So that's the way we'd like to have the church service. And I said, well,

Deb, thank you for asking. And I just want you to know though, that I'm a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And if you'd like me to do it, I will do it, but I'm going to preach what the Bible talks about in terms of Christ and his life and his death and resurrection.

So then I can hear her say to her dad, dad, he's going to talk about the resurrection. Is that okay? And then she said to me, my dad believes in the eternal spirit of the sky.

I'm just on the phone going, I think that's some old song, you know, right?

So when I go, when I die, he laid me to rest, you know, and all that. If I would say, you know what?

I'm just going to talk about the love of God. She would have said, okay. I'm just going to talk about Jesus was a great teacher.

Certainly there is the love of God. Certainly Jesus was a great teacher. I'm just going to talk about the miracle worker,

Jesus. But when you say, Paul said to these Corinthians, I've got a message and it's

Jesus, the one who remains crucified. It's a lot different than God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.