Paraklesis
[‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry]
April 2025
Peter Adam
Dear friends,
Here is another crucial aspect of leadership: leaders lead by preaching the Scriptures!
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you [Hebrews 13:7]
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction [2 Tim 4:2].
If you really want God to lead his church, then ‘give God the microphone’[1] every Sundays
There are lots of our words in our services: we welcome, we sing, we talk, we pray, we explain, and we tell people what is happening. We talk to people, and we talk to God. But when we hear the Bible read and preached, then we ‘give God the microphone’; God speaks to us! We pay attention to what God wants to say to us, we hear, meditate, and ponder his words.
And our Sunday services are the one time in the week when we listen to God’s words as a church, not as individuals [when we read the Bible on our own], or as fellow-believers [when we take part in a Bible study].
The Bible is mostly God’s words to his people, not to individuals. Moses and prophets spoke and wrote God’s words addressed to God’s people. The New Testament letters are mostly addressed to God’s people, and even those written to individuals include a message to the church.
When we preach, we bring God’s words to God’s people. The Sunday sermon is not the time for the minister to explain their own plans for the church, or even the church’s ‘Vision Statement’. We must not muzzle God, or sideline God, or silence God, or replace God. ‘If only you would hear God’s voice’.[2]
We must let God speak, because together as a church we need to live together ‘by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ [Matthew 4:4].
When the Bible is read and preached, we think God’s thoughts after him, as God’s mind is revealed by words from his mouth. Here are God’s certain words, here are God’s universal words to all people, in every place, in all times. Here is God’s revelation of himself, his plans, his promises, his teaching, his invitations, his warnings: God’s words reveal himself, and his will and saving plan for humanity, and his purpose for his people.
We need to hear God’s words to us, because we need to give room for God’s agenda to shape us. The Bible readings and sermon is the regular time each week for God to fill out, complement, correct, improve, challenge and enrich our church’s Mission Statement or Vision, our life together, and our personal plans.
We preach the Bible and its message, so that we use God’s syllabus to teach and proclaim salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, and to teach, encourage, rebuke, and challenge God’s people. The Bible is the inspired means God created for us to hear the gospel, and to transform us to live for his glory.
I recently attended the marriage of a member of my family taken by a Civil Celebrant. It included two ‘readings’ [no doubt a remnant of Bible readings in a Christian wedding service]. One ‘reading’ was a prayer to St Anthony: the other was a glowing tribute to the groom by the bride’s brother.
We really needed to hear from God!
The Bible reading and Biblical sermon in a service are much more than a ‘pep-talk’ from a CEO to the workers or share-holders. They are words from the mouth of God, God speaking to his people. Our God is not dumb: he is the God who speaks. And the church is the one community which should be shaped by God’s words in every part of its life and ministry.
Pace and Shaddix write,
‘The overabundance of books, course, assessments, and conferences on leadership gives testimony to our infatuation with the subject. It’s not hard to see why many pastors are tempted to see their preaching time as more of a leadership platform then dispensing God’s word.’[3]
I suppose another bad option would be to down-grade preaching, because it is not seen as relevant to the real business of achieving the Mission Statement or church’s Vision.
The Bible should shape the Vision, shape the methods by which it will be achieved, and also keep it in its right perspective. The Bible will also complement the Mission Statement or Vision, by bringing to our attention matters which are not included the Vision; the outcomes of grace that don’t appear in the Vision; the sins which are not addressed in the Vision; the warnings or encouragements which are assumed by the Vision. We need God’s words to constantly encourage and correct us, and to remind us that ‘Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain’ [Ps 127:1], and also to remind us that ‘Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails’ [Prov 19:21].[4]
Shepherds feed their sheep, and lead them to good pastures. Jesus told Peter, ‘Feed my lambs’ … ‘feed my sheep’ [Jn 21:15,17]. And, as we have already seen we need to live ‘by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ [Matthew 4:4].
God told Joshua, who replaced Moses as the leader of God’s people: ‘Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips … then you will be prosperous and successful] [Jos 1:8]. I love the description of Ezra, a famous leader of God’s people in the Old Testament. We read that he had devoted himself to study, do, and teach God’s words [Ez. 7:7].
Jesus led his disciples as a Rabbi, constantly teaching them. As he prayed to his Father, ‘I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them’ [Jn 17: 8. No wonder Peter said to Jesus, ‘You have the words of eternal life’ [Jn 6:68]. Paul led his churches and his mission to the Roman empire by speaking, preaching and writing: ‘Stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you’ [2 Thess 2:15]. And he instructed Timothy,
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you [1 Tim 4:13,14].
When I began ministry St Jude’s Carlton in 1982, we spent that year creating a Five-Year Plan. It was a common joke in Melbourne at the time that only the Soviet Union and St Jude’s had Five Year Plans!
We did that so that we would not try to do everything in one year, and so that we had time to test and prepare for new ministries. But if the people to do the ministry did not stand up and pray, we did not do the ministry. We held the Plan with open hands, conscious that God might stop one part of it, or open up other opportunities. And achieving the Five Year Plan was set in the broader context of what God expects of every church all the time: Gospel proclamation, prayer, bring people to maturity in Christ, repentance of sin and growth in godliness, Biblical sermons and Bible studies, mutual ministry, helping people think and act Christianly in daily life and responsibilities, raising up gospel workers, prayer for God’s global gospel plan, practical mutual support, engaging with our communities, and promoting gospel growth in Melbourne and beyond
Use the means God has provided to lead his Church! Pray, and preach!
[And there are more aspects of Leadership to come over coming months!].
May God in his mercy give his ministers grace to lead by preaching, and to lead as they preach, in Jesus’ name.
May God have the microphone in our churches, in our lives, and in our ministries. Amen.
With warmest greetings in Christ.
Peter Adam
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Thanks to my friend David Jackman for this powerful image! ↑
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Psalm 95:7. ↑
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R Scott Pace and Jim Shaddix, Expositional Leadership: Shepherding God’s People from the Pulpit, Crossway, 2024, p. 62. See also John Currie, The Pastoral Leader, Crossway, 2024, ‘The Preacher as Leader’, 47-63. ↑
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Proverbs also speaks in favour of planning! See 14:22, 15:22, 16:3, 20:18, 21:5, etc. ↑