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The ministry of the Word, we have noted, plays an important part in revitalizing a declining church. But it is not enough that a church holds firmly to the Bible and makes a point of preaching and teaching it regularly. It must, according to Harry Reeder, preach and teach it in a certain way.
You may recall from last week that Reeder believes that 2 Timothy 3:14-17 provides seven indicators of the kind of ministry of the Word that God blesses. We have already noted three of them - effective preaching and teaching is gospel-focused, Christ-centred, and God-given(in the sense of being the proclamation of his authoritative Word). We move on today to consider the remaining four features of effective ministry of the Word.
First of all, an effective ministry of the Word will be a profitable ministry. It will do people good. "God's thoughts and ideas," writes Harry Reeder, "have divine power, with which they can grip hearts and change lives, regardless of the weaknesses of the person presenting them" (p. 103). He goes on to say, "The Word has the ability to 'connect' with anyone anywhere, because it is written by the One who created all of us and knows us better than we know ourselves" (pp. 103-4). We can expect the ministry of the Word to be profitable to people.
More than that, we can expect it to be life transforming. Paul mentions to Timothy that the inspired Scriptures are profitable for particular things, namely, for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). These four things belong together and cumulatively result in changed lives. The order in which they are given is also significant. It begins with teaching, because, as Harry Reeder puts it, "you cannot make application to the lives of people until you have first taught them what the Scripture says and what it means by what it says" (p. 104). But effective ministry goes beyond teaching to "reproof" - correcting people where they are wrong. "People need to know where they have gone wrong. We are all sinners by nature, and we can not change until we recognize our sins and realize that we need to change" (p. 104). Reproof in turn leads to "correction" (learning positively what we need to do to right wrongs), and finally, to "training in righteousness." "Your preaching and teaching should help people to understand how to practice the things they are learning - not just in a moment of repentance, but in their ongoing, everyday lives as well" (p. 104). Where this sequence is followed we can expect to see God changing lives.
Thirdly, faithful ministry of the Word will prove to be an equipping message. "Our preaching and teaching" Reeder says, "should primarily be for the purpose of equipping or building up the saints, so that they can be better worshippers and servants of God" (p. 106). Harry Reeder is a great believer that a church's worship services, while being sensitive to the needs of unbelievers, should nevertheless focus on equipping and strengthening believers for their work and witness in the world. The biblical model, he says, is "that the church should gather to worship and scatter to evangelize… If you focus your preaching and teaching primarily on non-believers, you run the risk of having an undernourished church. You may have more people coming in the front door, but they may also end up going out the back door before very long, when they have not been sufficiently discipled and strengthened in the faith" (pp. 106-7)
Finally, faithful ministry of the Word will turn out to be a sufficient message. It will address all the basic needs of people and equip them unto "every good work." Preachers and teachers don't need to try to be original or profound. The Bible contains all they need to see lives transformed and churches renewed.