One of the ways believers worship on the Lord’s Day is through the exposition of Scripture. My church family worships by the manner in which they receive the Word, I worship through how I deliver it.
This quote by John Piper reminds me of my responsibility:
“When I preach on Sunday morning my job is to worshipfully lay out a feast for the saints.”
The thought that preaching is more than giving a speech, but an act of worship makes me careful, discreet, and reverent in my sermon preparation and delivery.
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I do sometimes wonder about the impact that TV and radio preachers have had on evangelical pastors. I have witnessed an unhealthy amount of time being spent by friends preparing for a 30 minute Sunday message. Preaching sometimes seems to eclipse other forms of worship like care, communication and counseling.
Even so, I think that the exposition of the scriptures is very important. Connecting it people in the pews and making it relevant to them is a very important part of church life.
I agree – there certainly has to be balance in various aspects of pastoral ministry.
Too often in my experience, though, I’ve observed the attitude that the “worship” part of the service is only the music and praise. “Now that the ‘worship’ is over, it’s time for the preaching.” I have an issue with that – I believe that the reading, exposition, and receiving of the Scripture are all acts of worship and should be viewed as such. (I think the same about an offering, but that’s a can of worms I’ll not get into here.)