The Pastor who proclaims the word of God to the congregation from the pulpit every Sunday is the herald of Jesus Christ. And who is a herald? In ancient times, a herald was a messenger who brought a message from the king to the people under the king’s subjection or rule. In the New Testament, John the Baptist was known as a herald. But he was not a herald (messenger) of an earthly king but a heavenly King, who was Christ Jesus.
The Gospel writer John introduced John the Baptist in John 1:6 as a man sent from God to bear witness to the light and through whose message (heralding) about the light (who was Christ- the light of the world) people would believe and be saved. From that language, we can conclude that a person who is called to the gospel ministry to stand in the pulpit of Christ’s Church every Lord’s day to preach and teach the whole counsel of God stands in the pulpit as a herald (voice) of Christ to instruct, encourage, comfort and perfect worshipers on the Church pews.
Additionally, in the New Testament, preachers who represent Christ in the office of the ministry of the Word are called Christ’s ambassadors who implore (beg) people to be reconciled with God (2 Corinthians 5:20). Thus, when a Pastor stands in the pulpit and preaches the Word of God to Christ’s flock, he does that as a herald and ambassador of Christ (the heavenly king and ruler) to deliver a message of repentance, salvation, peace and reconciliation to sinners. Consequently, this biblical truth about the King’s herald who stands in the pulpit every Sunday should call us to solemn duty.
We must hear and love the Word that is preached and is going to be preached to us each Sunday as a message from our King and Shepherd Jesus Christ through his herald (ambassador) the human preacher. The preacher from the pulpit is a human instrument through which the Scripture is heard and received by God’s people. That’s the reason why the pulpit is considered as a place of authority from which the preacher declares the whole counsel of God from God’s inspired and infallible Word. The herald’s work from the pulpit is not suggestive but declarative. And the duty that God has given to every hearer in the sanctuary is to hear the voice of his king and great Shepherd Jesus Christ through the mouth of his herald standing in the pulpit.
Do you recall how Christ distinguishes his own sheep (believers) from those who are not his sheep (unbelievers)? We find the answer in John 10:3, “The Sheep hear his Voice” So, the distinguishing mark of true Christians is that they hear and believe the truth of the gospel. In John Chapter 10, our Lord Jesus Christ makes it abundantly clear that the relationship between himself and his people is like a relationship between the Shepherd and his Sheep. And the distinguishing mark that defines that relationship is “they hear his voice”. They hear it, they believe it and they love and obey it.
In this week’s article I would like to talk to you all from my heart about how we all should hear the voice of our Shepherd Jesus Christ through the Word that is proclaimed to us every Sunday from the pulpit.
What do you think are the biblical characters of a good spiritual listener?
I will share four good characters that the Lord has taught me in my life with you all.
To hear obediently: In the gospel of Luke 8:18 the Lord Jesus Christ himself has given us the following exhortation. “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”
This sobering exhortation to the hearers of God’s Word comes directly from the King (Jesus Christ) and is related to how the preaching of God’s Word must be heard and be received by God’s people.
And by this serious exhortation our Lord Jesus Christ was saying “You need to be a good spiritual listener” which means, because it is a message from the heavenly King, you are bound to listen to it obediently. Consider with me what Paul said in Romans 1:5, “Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.”
You see, the Call that Paul is referring to in this verse is the Call of the Gospel or the preaching of the Word of God. And according to Paul, God has given grace (favor and ability) to the one who preaches the Word of God to call unbelievers and believers to obey God by faith.
And where does faith come from, my friend? Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ”. So what produces faith and obedience in the life of God’s people is the proclamation of God’s Word. And you know what? God has promised a blessing for those who attend the preaching of His Word with obedient heart.
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” John 14:23.
What a glorious blessing! When you hear the Word of God from the pulpit and obey it, the blessing that the Lord has promised you in his word is that you will be like a home in which God dwells as God the Holy Spirit, to fill you with every spiritual blessing that you need in life.
So every Sunday before you come to Church for Worship say to yourself, “I will go to Church to hear the voice of my king through his herald and by the grace of God I will obey.”
To hear appreciatively: Every time you seat in sanctuary to hear the Word preached to you, do you listen to it appreciatively? You see, you hear obediently because obedience belongs to the essential nature of the Word of God that the preacher proclaims to you. The message originates from King Jesus and demands obedience from the Redeemed under his Lordship. Then the preached Word must be received with deep appreciation and longing for divine visitation, nourishment and blessing by the hearer.
Remember how the Psalmist appreciates the Word of God in Psalm 119:72, “The Law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” As you my friend know, gold and silver are the highest expression of the most expensive and valuable possession. Those who possess them in life suppose that they have got what are the most precious and excellent things.
Is that how we treat the Word of God that we hear from the pulpit every Sunday? It is it more precious and valuable than gold and silver for you? And how is the preached Word more glorious and precious than gold and silver? Because however precious and pure gold and silver are, they are among the things of this world that are perishable (1 Peter 1:18) but the preached Word is eternal and by faith in the eternal Son of God, it gives eternal life (Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:24-25). We all appreciate receiving gold or silver as a gift from someone who loves us. And it is a proper thing to do. But what about the gift of the preached Word from the pulpit which is imperishable and has eternal value?
So come to the sanctuary to hear the voice of Jesus appreciatively.
To hear dependently: When we hear the Word preached from the pulpit we are highly advised by the Scripture that we should never depend on our ability and intelligence to understand what is delivered to us from the human herald in the pulpit. We must come to Church to hear and understand our God speaking to us through his messenger (the preacher) depending on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul makes the indispensability of the Holy Spirit in hearing and perceiving the message of God’s Word very clear in 1 Corinthians 2:13, “And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”
In a sense, Paul is telling us that what the preacher does from the pulpit in the sanctuary (the preaching of God’s holy word) is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit through the instrument of a human preacher. And the same Spirit gives to the hearer the ability to enjoy and understand the preaching of the Word. That was the reason why Paul in 1 Corinthians 2: 10-12 said, “These things God revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depth of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the Spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”
You see, my friends, our ability and insight to understand the preached Word comes not from us but from the Holy Spirit. Hence, every time we leave our home for worship, let’s take a moment to pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit on us to understand the truth of God’s Word. Remember, the hearer without the Spirit cannot accept and understand the things that come from God (1 Corinthians 2:14). So always depend on the blessed Spirit as you hear the voice of your great Shepherd from his under-shepherd, the preacher from the pulpit.
To hear responsively: Isn’t that what our Lord Jesus Christ said? “My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) “They follow me” means they hear me and do what I tell them to do. On another occasion Jesus also said “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” (John 14:15)
So according to Jesus, the distinguishing mark (quality) of Christ’s sheep is responding to the preaching of the Word of God with readiness and willingness to do his will being presented to you in the preaching from the pulpit. In the Parable of the Sower, our Lord Jesus Christ spoke about the kind of soil that produces nothing (hard soil, rocky soil and thorny soil) and the good soil that produced thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold. Then he explains the difference between the soils that produce nothing and the soil that is productive based on how the preached Word was heard and received.
According to Jesus the difference between the heart that produces nothing and the one that is productive after hearing the Word preached was the good soil (heart) that responds to the preaching of God’s Word in obedience and love, like Samuel who said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:10).
And as we know, Samuel heard but he also did all that the Lord commanded him to do by the strength that God gave him. And it is the same with you, my friend. You can respond to the preaching of God’s holy Word from the pulpit obediently, appreciatively, dependently and readily. Just remember and believe in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens me.”
Friend, at Redeemer the Lord has given you two wonderful opportunities to hear the Voice of his Son Jesus Christ through his heralds each Sunday, the proclamation of his Word from the pulpit during worship, and the teaching of his holy Word during Sunday school hour. In the love of Christ I encourage you all to come and listen to his voice in both times obediently, appreciatively, dependently and responsively.
May the Lord grant you his grace to do so!
Your friend and Pastor,
Zecharias