Steven J. Lawson - Called to Preach: Fulfilling the High Calling of Expository Preaching

I n every generation, the church of Jesus Christ rises or falls with its pulpit. This statement meets few exceptions. No church, no denomination, no movement rises any higher than its proclamation of the word of God. The importance of preaching for the edification of believers and the evangelism of the lost cannot be overstated. Over the centuries, every history-altering era of church history has been defined by the strength of its preaching. And every spiritually low season has been marked by a famine in the land of hearing the word of the Lord.

When the pulpit is strong, the church is strengthened, and her witness to the world is fortified. But when the pulpit is weak, the church languishes in spiritual listlessness, and society suffers for it.

The modern-day church has largely forgotten this truth. Church leaders look to the secular marketplace for new ideas to revitalize the work of God. Endless pragmatic strategies attempt to resuscitate the church. But each worldly remedy is deficient in reaching the goal. The truth remainsthat which is born of the flesh is flesh.

What is widely overlooked is that God established long ago the primary means of grace to be the preaching of His word. In both the Old and New Testaments, the chief method God has chosen to carry out His redemptive work is the Spirit-empowered proclamation of biblical truth. Nothing must ever be allowed to supplant the primacy of the pulpitnot if the church is to flourish.

Tragically, faithful preaching has become a forgotten science and a lost art. New ideas about preaching flood our conferences and podcasts. They promise church growth, numerical success, and personal fulfillment, yet minimize biblical exposition. They all fall woefully short of the permanent pattern set by God in Scripture. Only the centrality of preaching His word can accomplish the task. We cannot improve on what God has ordained.

Regardless of the whims of the times, the church is never allowed to redefine its mission nor its methods. We must never alter what God has fixed into place. No one is at liberty to invent new methods that rise above the pulpit. If the church is to be what Jesus Christ, the Head of the churchthe master Architectdesigned it to be, then it must follow His divine blueprint.

This book is a bold call to those summoned by Christ to preach the word. Strong preachers are needed in this desperate hour, those who understand the high call that has been placed upon their lives. Biblical preaching is the vibrant heartbeat that pumps spiritual life into the body of Christ. The Scripture rightly preached in the power of the Spirit will elevate worship and mature believers. And a biblical pulpit will mobilize Christians in the cause of gospel outreach, both locally and globally.

Truly, the church is strongest when the pulpit is strongest.

In the following pages, I will set before you what the Bible says about this lofty responsibility of expository preaching. This is not a book that presents brand-new solutions for the pulpit. Nor is it the result of surveying church attendees or unsaved neighbors about what they want to hear. To the contrary, this book is a serious look at Scripture itself and consults the giants of church history to answer questions such as: Who should preach? What should preaching look like? How should we prepare our sermons? How should we deliver them to honor God?

Having surveyed the landscape we will explore, let us now begin our journey.

Steven J. Lawson
Dallas