In most of my study, teaching and preaching these days I use the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible. But in this case I want to go to the King James Version (KJV). The verse I have in view is 2 Timothy 2:15, which in the KJV reads, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." In the ESV and other more recent versions the word "dividing" is replaced by the word "handling." So the ESV version of 2 Timothy 2:15 reads, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."
In the ministry circles where I serve, the emphasis that is placed on rightly dividing, or handling, the word of truth is one of accuracy. To divide rightly is to exegete rightly and then to exposit rightly with a concentration on the preparation and delivery of expositional teaching and preaching that would make a Jonathan Edwards proud. Of course, most of us who have been called into pastoral ministry see ourselves first as preachers, and we work diligently to learn the art and science of preaching well.
So far, so good, but all too often I am finding that those of us who preach view preaching well as the goal, the destination. The finely crafted sermon that is both theologically accurate and intellectually and emotionally engaging is its own reward. At its best, this falls well short of what is intended by the preaching of the rightly divided word.
We need to ask, "What is the goal of preaching? What is its biblical outcome intended to be?" Jesus has said that He will build His church (Matthew 16) and that the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19). In putting these two declarative statements by Jesus together we see that He is about the business of building His church by seeking and saving the lost. What, then, is the goal of preaching?
Yes, preaching is in part to strengthen the body of those who believe. Again, I ask, "Why?" Why is the body to grow in strength? The body is to be strengthen so that those who believe will be equipped to join Jesus as He builds His church by seeking and saving the lost. Paul puts its like this, "But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? . . . So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:14, 15a, 16).
To fulfill the Great Commission, preachers, and those who support them, must go beyond rightly dividing the word of truth for the already-Christian community, and move toward rightly multiplying the word of truth by getting the gospel to the ears of the not-yet-Christian community. It's time for us to stop talking to ourselves and to begin taking the gospel to our neighbors. Perhaps then today's church will begin to stem the tide of plateau and decline that so dominates the church in our time.
