It is altogether safe to assume that readers of THE OUTLOOK are, without exception, intensely interested in both the pulpit and the pew. And it is equally certain that they become deeply concerned when either or both begin to falter in following the Scriptural pattern for them and especially when the pulpit and the pew become obviously derelict or even apostate in this all–important matter.

Now it can hardly be said of our day that it is a heyday for, or a golden era of preaching that is truly great by the test of Scripture, or that the pew is by and large manifesting a keen appetite for preaching of that kind.

For some reason, preaching of the Word has fallen into disrepute even among those who boldly proclaim themselves to be ministers in and members of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, was inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak also of our day when he wrote to Timothy:

“For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away from the truth, and turn aside unto fables” (II Tim. 4:3, 4).

In this bicentennial year for the United States there still are men of good judgment for whom all the celebrating must be tempered by an honest concern for the future and the urgent question as to who will show us any good. May the one and only answer, also for America, come through loud and clear: “To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely, there is no morning for them” (Isa. 8:20).

Indeed, the responsibility of America’s leaders is awesome. However, if there is to be a revival in this land or anywhere else, it must begin in the pulpit and in the pew. And so the inescapable fact is that our responsibility before God is even greater. If ever Scriptural guidelines for both the pulpit and the pew were sorely needed, that time is now.

First, what is required of the pulpit?

The minister is to preach the Word.

The sermon is of primary importance. Why?

Because it is in the sermon that God speaks to us in His Word. That must always be foremost in our worship. And that is also why it is mentioned first in our Church Order, Article 51: “The congregation shall assemble for worship at least twice on the Lord‘s day to hear God’s Word (italics added) to receive the sacraments, to engage in praise and prayer, and to present gifts of gratitude.”

We should by all means discuss the sermon because in our day preaching is being downgraded and set aside. Dialogue, film, entertainment, and other substitutes are being introduced, and the sermon is being crowded out. The need for a renewed appreciation of the preaching of the Word is urgent.

Moreover, it is still true that the first mark of the true church is the pure preaching of the Word. The other marks are the proper administration of the sacraments and the faithful exercise of church discipline. In the measure that a church neglects anyone of these three marks it ceases to be a true church.

And most important of all, as Wilbur M. Smith has written: “Our Lord himself said of those of us who preach, ‘He that heareth you heareth me’ (Lk. 10:16). The apostle reechoed this in ‘Faith cometh by hearing‘ (Rom. 10:17). This is when we hope that our listeners will, as the Thessalonians, ‘receive the message . . . not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God’ (I Thess. 2:13). What happens in that hallowed half hour will, apart from the anointing of the Holy Spirit, depend for the most part on the hours the minister has devoted to study and prayer in the preceding week” (The Minister in His Study, p. 9. The Moody Press).

Once again: The minister is to preach the Word.

That’s what John the Baptist did when “he came into all the region round about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins . . .” (Luke 3:3).

That’s what Jesus did when He “went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom . . .” (Matt. 9:35).

That’s what the disciples did when they “went throughout the villages, preaching the gospel . . .” John 9:6).

And that’s what Paul instructed the young preacher Timothy to do when he wrote him: “I charge thee . . . preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (II Tim. 4:1, 2).

The minister is to preach the Word, the whole Word, and nothing but the Word.

Catechism sermons also must be a preaching of the Word. With good reason, the Church Order can say in Article 54: “At one of the services each Lord’s day, the minister shall ordinarily preach the Word as summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism, following its sequence (italics added). The Catechism is Scriptural in its teaching.

And as long as the man in the pulpit preaches the Word, he has the right to command our attention. But this is true only when he comes with a Thus saith the Lord! If he comes with the teaching of men or his own ideas, his authority is gone and we are no longer obliged to listen.

This requires study on the part of the minister hard study without any letup. Anyone who claims that all a minister has to do is get up in the pulpit and expect that the Holy Spirit will then tell him what to say always reminds me of the incident the late Professor Louis Berkhof reported to us when we were his students. There was a certain Dominie Harms who had a number of members in his church who kept telling him that it was wrong for him to study, and that if he would only get up on the pulpit in faith, the Holy Spirit would surely give him a sermon. And so Dominie Harms finally yielded to their pressure and decided to try it, but the result was a disaster. After the service the people asked him, “Dominie, didn’t the Holy Spirit tell you anything at all?” “Yes He did,” replied the Dominie, ”but all He told me was, ‘Harms you’ve been lazy.’”

To quote from Wilbur M. Smith’s aforementioned book once more: “I am assuming in this book that, during the hours the minister spends in his study, he will study. Too many ministers have changed the sign on their door from the pastor’s study to the minister‘s office” (p. 10).

Such study requires time and books. And time is often at a premium in a large congregation with a lot of pastoral work. Someone has said that, if necessary, a minister must fight for time to do the necessary studying. Books are expensive. A minister’s salary must be adequate so that it will be possible to earmark part of it regularly to buy all the books with which a minister’s library should be stocked for good preaching.

In his book, Communicating the Gospel, Halford E. Luccock, who taught preaching at Yale for twenty-five years (I do not claim that he was an evangelical or a conservative), has a most interesting lecture for ministers on “He Opened the Book.” This title is a reference to what we read about Jesus when He came to Nazareth and entered the synagogue. What did our Lord do? Luke 4:17 tells us, “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And He opened the book, and found the place. . .” Luccock points out that when Jesus occupied the pulpit in the synagogue He opened the book. And that is precisely what we ministers are to do for the congregation: our only business in the pulpit is to open the Bible. Next, Jesus “found the place.” He found the place in Isaiah that was relevant to the occasion. Even so, ministers today are to preach Scripture by applying it to our time and our circumstances. Nothing else will do in the pulpit except the Word that will never pass away.

Second, what is required of the pew?

The answer is: Much!

We may think when we go to church that as far as the sermon goes, it’s all up to the minister. Don‘t you believe it! As often as we hear a sermon from the Word, God requires much of us in the pew also.

Two things should be mentioned.

1. First, we are to be hearers of the Word.

When the Word is preached we should have our ears wide open—our minds and hearts also. Reverence and even awe are most becoming when God speaks to llS in His Word and by His servant. Let’s remember the old adage: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. We should be willing to let God do the talking and not be so eager to let others know what we have to say. Notice what we are told about this in Ecclesiastes 5:1, 2:

“Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God . . . Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.”

The familiar parable about the Sower does not tell us about four kinds of preachers but rather about four kinds of hearers.

There are hardened hearers into whom the Word does not penetrate any more than the seed got into the soil before the birds quickly went off with it. Their minds and hearts are closed to what they hear with their ears.

There are superficial hearers who at once become enthusiastic but their faith is only temporary and they soon leave it all behind—especially when trials and persecutions arise. They are like the soil that was just a thin layer over a bed of rock into which the seed can take no root.

There are also worldly hearers. They are like the soil in which the weeds or thorns grew rapidly and choked out the good seed scattered there. Worldly hearers have their minds and hearts so full of earthly and worldly cares and ambitions that the sermon doesn‘t have a chance to grow in them and to make a difference in their lives.

And finally there are also fruitful hearers. They are like the good ground into which the seed fell and bore fruit. It is of the greatest importance to note that this parable is all about hearers. We should carefully examine ourselves to know to which class we belong.

2. Second, we are to be doers of the Word.

Our Lord is very clear about that. He says: “Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand” (Matt. 7:24–26).

If we are hearers of the Word only and not doers, we will be fooling ourselves most of all. This is how James puts it. “Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves” (1:22).

It‘s so easy to say to the minister when he greets us at the door, “I enjoyed your sermon.” But the only compliment that really amounts to anything for a discerning minister of the Word consists in this: the evidence that as members of the congregation we are living according to the Word that he is preaching, that we are taking it to heart. This is how John puts it in his third epistle: “Greater joy have I none than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (vs. 4).

A New Series on I Timothy

For good reasons, I am frankly enthusiastic in recommending a new series of outlines for Bible study beginning in this issue of THE OUTLOOK.

1. First, this study is to be on 1 Timothy, especially appropriate for our time. Proper behavior in church and the proper administration of the church (and also that which is improper) are calling for a lot of lively discussion and debate right now. Those who want Scriptural guidelines in this can hardly do better than spend a Bible–study season in this First Epistle of Paul to Timothy.

Let me cite just one example. There is a sharp difference of opinion today (also in the CRC) as to whether women should hold church offices. Now consider what we find in I Timothy 2:11, 12: “Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness.” It should be our concern to know, not what some book of the month may have to say about this and other live issues, but rather what God is telling us about this in the Book of books.

2. Next, there is good reason for being enthusiastic about this series because Rev. Henry Vander Kam is the writer. From past experience we know that he is exceptionally well qualified for this kind of writing. Outlines for Bible study, written by him and published by the Reformed Fellowship, have been widely used. At the Grace CRC in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he is now serving in his tenth year, Rev. Vander Kam preaches to a full house, both morning and evening, Sunday after Sunday. Moreover, most appreciative reports concerning his Bible teaching at the church societies are also heard. While men‘s societies elsewhere are becoming a thing of the past, Grace Church still has seventy-five men in regular attendance with the pastor as their leader. We are happy and thankful to welcome Rev. Vander Kam once again as a regular contributor to THE OUTLOOK.

Note: Elsewhere in this issue the first two outlines on I Timothy may be found as well as information about group subscriptions, etc.