'Not only is Timothy to continue in the Word personally, but Paul goes on to tell him to preach the Word publicly (4:1-2). The first verse of chapter four sets forth the seriousness of the charge that he is about to give. Paul piles image upon image to rivet Timothy's attention on the admonition which he is about to give.
It is given "in the sight of God"--which in itself would be enough--and before the Lord Jesus Christ, "who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing at His kingdom." God will one day require an accounting from Timothy for how well he heeded this apostolic charge.
Every God-called preacher of the gospel should feel the weight and seriousness of this apostolic charge. Together with the apostle's young colleague we stand before God, in the sight of the very Christ whom we know and love, who has come into our lives to save us and change us. We are being commissioned by the authority of and before the face of the One to whom we must one day give an account not only for our personal lives but also for our public ministries.
And what is the nature of this charge? Simply and forcefully, Paul declares, "Preach the Word!" This is the first of five quick imperative verbs in verse 2. The first one comprehends all the rest and they in turn help elaborate the nature and content of preaching.
Paul uses an official word for preaching. It is a word that was used of a herald, an emissary, an ambassador that went in behalf of his king to make known a matter of great importance. Preaching is the divinely authorized proclamation of God's message to men and women. It is nothing less than heralding the oracles of God to men.
Paul ties the nature of this work to its content when he instructs Timothy to preach the Word. What is to be preached is not the prerogative of the preacher. The messenger does not originate or create the message. His job is to accurately communicate it. He is the deliverer of the message. The success of his work is measured by the degree to which he accurately communicates that which the One who has given him the message has actually said. Deviation from the message which he has been given is nothing less than insubordination to his King.
The content of the message comes from God Himself. "The Word" consists of the Holy Scriptures, which are "God-breathed." In verse 3 Paul identifies this Word with "sound doctrine," which is nothing less than the Word accurately understood and applied. To preach the Word is to teach sound doctrine which, he warns, some will not put up with in the last days.
What this means is that if the man of God is going to preach the Word of God, then he himself must be a sound theologian. He must be willing to do the hard work of study so that he can draw out of the text God's truths and explain and apply them to his hearers.
One of the greatest maladies that has befallen evangelical life in the last century is the church's abdication of the work of theology to the academy. Praise God for academicians and those who give themselves day in and day out to the study of matters which can equip churches and those who serve in them! But theology, sound doctrine, the Word, belongs to the church. Those who would preach the Word must commit themselves to being the best students of it. They must commit themselves to understanding it, to knowing sound doctrine.
A preacher must be a sound theologian if he is to draw out of the text God's truths and explain and apply them to his hearers. This means that he must be committed to letting Scripture interpret Scripture. He must be so familiar with the Word that no one passage is taken out and explained in contradiction to other passages. He must refuse to twist or treat superficially any portion of Scripture. He must measure all his thoughts and conclusions by the standard of the inscripturated Word of God.
This kind of work in preaching is what John Owen calls a "sweaty kind of preaching." It is a charge to be an expository preacher. Expository preaching has almost become a shibboleth among conservatives and evangelicals in our day. No self-respecting, conservative, Bible believing pastor would admit that he does anything less. But, as the old song says about heaven, so it is equally true that, "not everybody talking about expository preaching is doing it." There is more to it than merely using the Bible as the starting point of the sermon.
When many preachers prepare to preach they take their texts from the Bible and their sermons from the newspapers. To "preach the Word" means more than merely preaching from the Word. Rather, the Word itself must govern and guide that which we would say in behalf of God.
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