A Prescription For Sound Gospel Preaching

by Chris Simmons

Paul’s initial effort to preach the gospel in the city of Thessalonica, while on his second missionary journey, didn’t last as long as he might have hoped. For after preaching there for “three Sabbaths” (Acts 17:2-3), jealous Jews and other “wicked men” began to inflict persecution upon the Christians there (verses 5-9) and Paul was immediately sent away to Berea (verse 10). Prior to his departure however, Paul, through his efforts to reason and persuade from the scriptures, was able to teach and convert a “great multitude” (verse 4). Concerned about the impact of the persecution on their faith, Paul sent Timothy back to check on their faith (1 Thessalonians 3:5-8) and then wrote the first epistle to them to encourage and exhort them (among other things) to continue to “excel still more” (4:1, 10) and to keep spiritually alert and sober (5:6).

In writing this first letter to them, Paul also reminds the saints in Thessalonica of his work preaching the gospel among them and gives them a prescription, as it were, for the type of preaching they needed to continue to seek and abide in and hunger passionately for. In I Thessalonians 2:3-7 Paul wrote, “For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed – God is witness – nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.” The components of sound gospel preaching then include:

1. It’s pure and unadulterated and free from impurities and the doctrines of men. Paul never mingled human wisdom with the pure gospel. Paul modeled what he taught other preachers, that is, to maintain “purity in doctrine” (Titus 2:7). We are all responsible to “long for the pure milk of the word” (I Peter 2:2) and avoid any distortions whatsoever (Galatians 1:6-9).

2. It’s presented honestly and free of deceit. Sound preaching never will intentionally (or even unintentionally) take scripture out of context or deceitfully manipulate it to say what you want it to say. Those who preach bear the responsibility to be those who are “handling accurately the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15). There’s no need to trick or deceive an audience into believing the truth. Paul simply “reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and giving evidence” (Acts 17:2-3).

3. It’s preached by a man who considers himself to be but a steward and servant. Sound preaching is by sound preachers who never seek what’s in it for them. They speak only what God has been revealed and entrusted to us (Deuteronomy 29:29; I Peter 4:11). Personal gain and self-serving greed have no place in the pulpit of the Lord’s church as Paul reminded the elders of the church in Ephesus in Acts 20:33. Greed and deceptive exploitation are identified as characteristics of false teachers that will lead to the destruction of many souls (II Peter 2:1-3).

4. It’s proclaimed by those who aren’t men-pleasers. We have to choose whether our purpose in life and in preaching the gospel is to please men or God (Galatians 1:10). There will always be an audience who want to be told what pleases them – God doesn’t need preachers willing to supply it (II Timothy 4:2-4). There’s no place to seek to flatter the audience. “Paul says that they had not descended to flattery in order to make the gospel acceptable. They had not flattered men’s self-complacency so as to blind them to their need of the radical work which the gospel demands” (Vincent’s Word Studies). Paul never sought the glory and praise of men but entrusted his ministry to God and knew that his faithfulness to God’s message would not be overlooked by his heavenly Father.

5. With gentleness, affection, and care. Paul never sought to attack, berate, or belittle those he proclaimed God’s word to but rather spoke with love and affection for their souls. He practiced what he wrote to the Ephesians about as he practiced “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Truth isn’t to be used in a destructive manner but as God’s powerful message to encourage and exhort man to faithful obedience. Paul expressed this in II Timothy 2:24-26, “The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” In short, our duty is to hate evil (Psalms 97:10), sin, and “every false way” (Psalms 119:104 & 128), but to love the souls of others and constantly seek those who would want to come to a knowledge of the truth (I Timothy 2:4).

Everywhere, and in every time Paul went, he presented the gospel in this manner (I Corinthians 4:17). This prescription for presenting the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16) will always yield results if followed persistently and consistently. God promised the effectiveness of His word when He said in Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” Will we choose to simply present it according His prescription without exception?