MRT 19.2 September 2024 – Preach the Word

Posted by
OMF International

From the Editorial

The B-I-B-L-E. Yes, that’s the book for me.
I stand alone on the word of God, The B-I-B-L-E.

As a child growing up in church, I learned that the Bible was God’s word spoken for the world and for me. I learned this through the Bible stories that were taught, the sermons we heard, and the songs we sang. And though it took many years before I understood that the simple words of the song “The B-I-B-L-E” expressed the same deep commitment to Scripture that were so powerfully expressed in Martin Luther’s defense at the Diet of Worms—“Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me.”—they gave me a real sense that the Bible was a book I needed to know. It was the book for me.

The articles in this issue are mainly designed to remind us of the need for the Bible to be preached rightly as God’s word to God’s world so that those who don’t know him can become God’s people and grow in grace as disciples of Jesus. Preaching God’s word—be that the Bible in its entirety or parts or the gospel, the message about Jesus Christ—is an essential task of the church and thus of the missionary. One can rightly say that unless God’s word is actively and accurately preached, there can be no mission. We are therefore obliged to consider how well we take in God’s word read and preached and how well we communicate the truths that brings life to a world deserving of death.

As we believe that the Bible is the word of God that should be heard, understood, and obeyed, let us do what we can to ensure that the people we work with understand it rightly so that they can obey it too. This will require us to learn the Bible well in their language. Some years ago, a friend told me that he spent his first home assignment focusing his Bible reading on the translation used by the people he worked with. His example should challenge many of us to spend quality time in the local translation, get to know it, and memorize it so that we can communicate it well, even with those who can’t (or won’t) read it themselves. Those who have given time to learning the original biblical languages may similarly be challenged to return to their Greek and/or Hebrew and start to get to know it again. This should not be thought of as an academic exercise but as a way to better know God’s word so that we can rightly share it with others so that the B-I-B-L-E won’t just be the book for me, but that it will become the book for them too.

Contents

The Voice of God in the World of God: Is Expository Preaching Culturally Relative? – PT

Preaching and Mission – Phil Nicholson