Practical Preaching

By John Meador

The preacher’s great concern is practicality. Practical preaching has been elevated today above all else, but in that practicality, there is a downside.

Since practicality, or relevance, is seen as the gauge of effectiveness by so many listeners (as in “what’s in it for me?”) many preachers have neglected doctrine and exposition for that perceived relevance.

Practical application is embedded in every passage of Scripture. God’s great passion is for us to love Him and follow Him, and in that passion He speaks words that contain both doctrinal truth and everyday relevance. It is our task to find it all in every passage—and it is perhaps one of our best time investments as we prepare each week.   

Take, for example, 2 Timothy 3:16-17. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” 

Most of the messages I’ve heard through the years on this passage, including my own, have centered on the nature of Scripture—which is a primary point of the passage. It may be because we’ve been in a battle over the last 30 years over the nature of Scripture that gives rise to such preaching, or perhaps it is just the interest of the preacher to focus almost exclusively on that point.

The context and grammar, however, point us to the heavy application of the God-breathed Scripture that no message should be without. My study led to focus on the four key words that described how Scripture is profitable for us.

The Bible is our Textbook. Since the word “teaching” is alluding to the body of teaching, and not the act of teaching, we need to help our people see that we are helpless and clueless with the textbook of life—the Bible. I well remember trying to help my children with their algebra homework without a textbook—hopeless! Put a textbook in my hand, and I’m not hopeless anymore. I have equations, examples, and even answers at the back that let me learn algebra. Our Bible is even more enabling for those who will read it. It is an all-sufficient textbook for life!

The Bible is our Teacher. We can see Scripture as our “teacher” in the classroom of life in the second word, “reproof.” This is the word that has to do with pointing out our errors and mistakes. The word means “to convict, to prove wrong.” In the same way the teacher in a classroom gives us tests, and marks in red the wrong answers, the Bible points out our error.  Without this ministry of the Word, no matter how painful it may seem, we march on our merry way into deeper error and heartbreak. By remaining in the Word, we discover when we get off the trail of life.

The Bible is our Tutor. The word “correction” involves putting us back on track. That’s what a tutor does. For seven years, I had the privilege of studying with Spiros Zodhiates on a weekly basis. I’d study my text for the week, and only after I felt I had mastered it would I sit down with “Dr. Z.” And only then would I learn how far off track my study sometimes was! He would graciously and humorously point out the misunderstanding and then set me on the correct path of understanding New Testament Greek. It was an intimate, personal ministry. It also describes what the Scripture does for us when we have a regular relationship in it.

The Bible is also our Trainer. Paul uses the phrase “training in righteousness” to describe this fourth benefit of Scripture. The word “training” is elsewhere used to describe the discipline of a father with child, or the heavenly father as He disciplines us, His children. Today, we have all kinds of terms for this ministry. We have personal coaches, personal trainers for fitness, corporate coaches, consultants, advisors, guidance counselors, and the list goes on and on. There is no shortage of people who consider themselves experts who want to help you succeed, or at least be paid to try. Yet, the Bible is the only proven source for training us to be righteous! If I would let Scripture be my personal, spiritual, financial or corporate trainer, I would succeed in the most eternal way.

Yes, the Bible is inspired by God—it is most definitely God-breathed! But it is also incredibly practical as our textbook, teacher, tutor and trainer. It is, practically, all we need.

John Meador is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Euless, Texas.

Pulpit Helps Magazine, a ministry of AMG International, is the pastor’s one-stop-shop for tools to effectively serve a congregation. Founded in 1975 by Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, Pulpit Helps is dedicated to the mission of equipping our readers with a greater understanding of the words of Scripture so that they can adequately fulfill their calling as Christ’s ambassadors. It is to that end that we provide sermon starters, bulletin inserts, illustrations and quality articles on preaching, counseling, Christian living, and more.