Preach the Word

2 Timothy 4:2

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season

reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching (doctrine).”

Divine resources and divine responsibility – The Scriptures are the resources given

by God (2 Tim 3:16-17) so we may know truth. Now comes the responsibility to use those same Scriptures and “Preach the Word.”

What God has written with His authority, can be communicated with authority.

This is such a serious matter that Paul writes to Timothy – “I charge you in the presence of God and before Jesus Christ” (2 Tim 4:1). Commentator John Stott says it is ‘a judicial matter. He must ‘speak the truth, and ‘give an account’ for how he preaches the Word of God. We may stand before people as we preach, but first we stand before God.

There is a message to proclaim. To preach is to speak as a herald – not our own message but taking a given message and repeating it. Speakers use words, but here they must ‘preach the word.” Preach Jesus, “The Word of God” (John 1:1) and preach the written “Word of God” as found in the “sacred writings,” and the “Scriptures” spoken of in the preceding verses of 2 Timothy 3:15-16. Put another way, “Preach the Bible.”

The early disciples of Jesus when persecuted were scattered from Jerusalem yet went “everywhere preaching the word”’ (Acts 8:4). The Apostle Paul preached the word of the gospel to the Thessalonians and they received ‘the word” as the message as the word of God (1 Thessalonians 1:6).

Preachers are to be prepared – “be ready” both in the content of the message they preach and in the character of their lives. Preachers are to ‘walk the talk’. A preacher is to also ‘pastor,’ shepherd people, “rebuking, reproving and encouraging.” A preacher is to be patient with people. A preacher is to be a teacher, giving Biblical instruction accurately (2 Tim 2:15) through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

Timothy is told that at times the audience will not want “the word” and not want ‘the preacher’ or his message, he is still to “preach the word.” (2 Tim 4:3-4).

We take this verse seriously and the desire of this Church is that you hear God’s Word, are fed from God’s Word, grow in God’s Word, and live by God’s Word.

Based on Message 30 January 2022 ©John 2022