Today's Expositor's Quote is from Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC:
What about the role of the preacher of God's Word? If you are looking for a good church, this is the most important thing to consider. I don't care how friendly you think the church members are. I don't care how good you think the music is. . . . The congregation's commitment to the centrality of the Word coming from . . . the preacher, the one specially gifted by God and called to that ministry, is the most important thing you can look for in a church. . . .
Preachers are not called to preach what's popular according to the polls. . . . People already know all that. What life does that bring? We're not called to preach merely moral exhortations or history lessons or social commentaries. . . . We are called to preach the Word of God to the church of God and to everyone in His creation. This is how God brings life. Each person . . . is flawed and has faults and has sinned against God. And the terrible thing about our fallen natures is that we are greedy for ways to justify our sins against God. Every single one of us wants to know how we can defend ourselves from God's charges. Therefore we are in desperate need to hear God's Word brought honestly to us, so that we don't just hear what we want to hear but rather what God has actually said.
All of this is important . . . because God's Holy Spirit creates His people by His Word.
This is why Paul told Timothy to "form a committee." Right? Of course not! . . . "Take a survey"? No! . . . "Spend yourself in visiting"? No! . . . "Read a book"? No! Paul never told young Timothy to do any of those things.
Paul told Timothy, straight and clear, to "Preach the Word" (2 Tim. 4:2). This is the great imperative. This is why the apostles earlier had determined that, even thought there were problems with the equitable distribution of financial aid in Jerusalem, the church would just have to find others to solve their problems, because, "We . . . will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word" (Acts 6:4). Why this priority? Because this Word is "the word of life" (Phil. 2:16). That is the great task of the preacher: to "hold out the word of life" to people who need it for their souls.
Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (Crossway, 2000), p. 38-39.
[When people visit your church, do they find a congregation committed to the centrality of the Word? Do they hear a preacher with that commitment, a preacher who will proclaim God's Word honestly, in its entirety, even when the piercing Word hurts? Friends, there's a place for committees and surveys, and all of us should set aside some time for visiting and reading other books. But our primary call is to preach the Word. Is that your focus? - Coty]