“There is today no lack no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year, strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They minister constantly to believers who feel within their breasts a longing which their teaching does not satisfy” (A.W. Tozer).
It is a terrible thing that ministers minister to people that have a longing within them and the teaching simply does not satisfy. Perhaps the teaching is orthodox in terms of the letter of the law or doctrine, but there is no spiritual food for the souls of the people. The only food that the Bible has to offer is Christ Himself who is the very outshining of the glory of God (Hebrews 1:3). Christ is the bread that has been sent from heaven to feed the souls of all who believe (John 6:51-58). No matter how faithful a minister may be to the text in terms of the words, the spiritual souls of people will not be fed unless Christ is given to the people to feed their souls with. In other words, it is possible to set under a faithful minister in the sense of his being orthodox and in terms of his preaching the text but the souls under him are still starving. People must have spiritual food or they will starve.
It is a good thing to be distraught when we see and hear of people being led astray by liberals and unorthodox ministers and theologians. However, how are we to act when we see men that are truly preaching the Word in one sense but are not feeding the souls of the people? In neither of these cases are the souls of people being reached with the manna from heaven. What, then, is the real difference? Is it better to be led astray by the teaching of liberalism and heresy or to be blinded and deceived to true religion by orthodoxy? If neither of these are getting to the point of feeding souls with spiritual food, is one really better than another? While we want to say that the orthodox teaching is better, we must face head on the teachings of the Pharisees versus the Sadducees. The Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead as many liberals do today. The Pharisees stood up and believed that orthodox teaching and taught the historical teachings of Judaism. However, which one was better?
We need to wake up and realize that orthodox teaching can be nothing more than the wisdom of men given in the power of man. Orthodox teaching as to the letter of it is not all there is to preaching and teaching. People must be led to Christ in order to drink at the Fountain of Living Water and to feed on the heavenly manna. God did not set out ministers within the churches just to teach the basic teachings of the Bible according to words alone. No, they are to preach to the glory of God. They are to preach in the power of the Spirit. “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (I Thess 1:5). The Word of God is not to be preached in word only, that is, even with orthodox doctrine and cultured expositional preaching. The Word of God is to be preached in power. The Word of God is to be preached in the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is to be preached with full conviction. Dare we say that if these things are not done that one is not really preaching as he ought?
There are true believers in orthodox in doctrine churches and they are sitting under orthodox teachers and their souls are not being fed. Why is that? For the simple reason that orthodoxy does not feed souls in and of itself. Orthodox teaching is meant to take a person to Christ and the glory of God. It is not meant to be an end in and of itself, it is meant to take one to God and His glory in Christ. Only when orthodox teaching takes people to God and His glory and feeds souls with that is preaching carrying out its purpose as well.
Reformed teaching and expositional preaching are not ends in and of themselves. People can starve under those things just like they will under liberal ones. People can starve under expositions of Scripture just like they can with skyscraper sermons (one story on top of another) filled with fluff and humorous anecdotes. Expositional preaching with Reformed theology can leave one dry and dead in the soul too. Both of those methods can be nothing but an approach that tries to teach orthodoxy but is simply full of nothing but intellectual content. Preachers must learn that they need to preach God and His glory more than anything else. They must learn that orthodox theology and expositional preaching is to aid in preaching God and His glory. But if they do not seek to exalt and lift God up with orthodoxy and expositional preaching, they are simply being satisfied with intellectual exercises. “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Surely preaching and teaching falls under that command and privilege as well. That alone will satisfy the longing in the breasts of believers.
God Loves... Himself 
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