Preaching As Worship in Practice
This message was delivered August 25 at the 2022 Send Twin Cities Preaching Workshop.
Now the plan for this talk is to focus on the work of preaching as an act of worship — that’s what I mean by the phrase “preaching as worship” — but before we get into that, we should ask what are preachers for anyway …
What are pastors (or preachers) — what are we for?
I’ve been helped here the insights of Pastor Eugene Peterson. I didn’t know Peterson was a church planter until I read his memoir a few years. Most people know Peterson from his books, but back in 1962 he was commissioned by his denomination to start a new church in the greater Baltimore area, and they didn’t even call it church planting back then, it was just: Hey, there’s a lot of people here; we need a new church; go start something.
And so Peterson answered that call and started gathering people in his home, and a church was birthed — in one of the craziest times in America history.
We think things are bad today, but the 1960s were the original “Age of Anxiety” … between the Vietnam war, and racial tensions, and three major assassinations, and the sexual revolution, and a new drug culture, there was some stuff going on.
And what’s fascinating about Peterson’s story is that at the same time he was trying to plant this church, hospitals in the area saw a dramatic increase of people needing services for emotional and mental health. And a psychiatrist from a clinic close to where Peterson lived had this idea. He said: Hey, let’s get some pastors together and train them in psychology and therapy, and basically, let’s make these pastors a front-line defense to intercept mental health needs before they get to us doctors.
Because they had such an influx into the hospitals, the doctors needed these pastors to slow things down for them. And so for two years, every Tuesday, for three hours, Peterson went through this training with other pastors. Peterson says that at that time there was a booming market for pastors to become more like counselors; the “pastoral counseling movement” was picking up steam; and so he learned a ton from those sessions about psychology and therapy — and he said it almost ruined his ministry.
Peterson writes,
Incrementally, without noticing what I was doing, I had been shifting from being a pastor dealing with God in people’s lives to treating them as persons dealing with problems in their lives.
Now Peterson appreciated psychology (and I do too), but the issue here is about clarity on the pastoral calling. Peterson writes:
My work is not to fix people. It is to lead people in the worship of God and to lead them in living a holy life. … by reducing [people as] problems to be fixed I omitted the biggest thing of all in their lives, God and their souls …
Peterson says that he was on the verge of accidentally abandoning his pastoral vocation, but, by God’s mercy, he became convinced that his primary work as a pastor was not so much to “help” people, but it was to call people to worship God. Later he writes that he believed that the most important thing he did as a pastor was to stand before his congregation each week and say, “Let us worship God!”
And I wonder what you think about that?
The bottom-line question here is: What do you think a pastor is for?
Well I think Peterson is right —
Our primary work as pastors (as preachers) is to call people to worship God. Or I think a more complete way to say it is that as pastors, we are to call people and lead people to worship God by giving them Jesus. That’s why we preach, brothers.
We should never isolate preaching from the pastoral calling overall, because preaching is at the very heart of what it means to be a pastor. Preaching is at the heart of our calling, and so if our calling is mainly about leading people to worship God, then preaching AS worship makes total sense.
So don’t hear me say “preaching as worship” to be about function or technique or even conviction, but understand preaching as worship to be about vocational identity.
We as pastors exist to call and lead people to worship God by giving them Jesus … and preaching is the main way we do that.
And I say all that, for starters, just to highlight the relevance of this topic. I think it’s really important and fundamental, but now, for where we’re headed, there are two parts — answering two questions.
First, how do we preach as worship? (And worship as we preach?)
Second, how does this kind of preaching fit into the greater worship service? (And I’ll try to get super practical at this point.)
Part One: How do we preach as worship?
First, think about the common ways that we think about preaching as part of worship. How do we normally talk about it? A lot of times we’ll call the “worship” the singing part, and the preaching part sort of stands alone. Imagine how an average person in your church might explain the preaching part. If somebody with no church background asked an average person, “Hey, why does your pastor preach? What is this preaching thing he does?”
What would they say?
Well, I would guess that the average person assumes the point of the preaching is mainly teaching: “The pastor-preacher is telling me things to help me live rightly” — that’s a typical way to think about it, and that’s not bad. That is absolutely part of it.
But the idea of “preaching as worship” says more. It says that the preaching part does just go along with the worship or just assist the worship, but the preaching part is worship.
The person who has influenced me the most on this is John Piper, who has been a preacher for over 40 years, and who is a teacher of preaching. Dr. Piper was my preaching professor in seminary, and he’s written a few books on preaching, but recently is Expository Exultation:
In that phrase “expository exultation” Piper means “preaching as worship.” Dr. Piper unpacks the phrase more in the book’s Introduction and says that by “expository,” he means the “rigorous intellectual clarification of the reality revealed through the words of Scripture.” (Or, another way to say it: expository means explaining what the Bible says.)
And then for “exultation,” Dr. Piper defines it as “a worshipful embodiment of the value of [the expounded] reality in the preacher’s exultation over the word he is clarifying.” Or, here’s another way to say this if we put them both together, “expository exultation” means to explain what the Bible says as you worship the God who said it.
That’s a definition for “preaching as worship.”
It’s to explain what the Bible says as you worship the God who said it.
And therefore, all the parts of the worship service go together. The songs and prayers and readings and confession and ordinances and the preaching go together because they all are doing the same thing. They are acts of worshiping God. We don’t stop the worship time of our corporate gathering in order to hear preaching, but we continue worship in the hearing of preaching.
So it goes like this: in a similar way that a musician leads the church to worship God through music (as he also worships God through music), so a preacher leads the church to worship God through the hearing of preaching (as he also worships God through the preaching).
Now, the musician and a preacher are not asking the church the same thing. A lot of times it’s easier to sing than it is to hear. But both the “singing with” the music leader and the “listening to” the preacher are meant to be worship. And well, what is worship?
Dr. Piper explains that worship is the “conscious knowing, treasuring, and showing the supreme worth and beauty of God.” Worship is to act in a way that shows the heart’s valuing of the glory of God and the name of Jesus (27). Preaching as worship is preaching that does that. Piper writes,
To preach the word means to show the glory of God as supremely valuable so that people can behold it, treasure it, and be transformed. Which means that the preacher must aim at worship and act in worship. He must exhibit and experience the worth of Christ. He must explain and extol. (86)
Practically, for us as preachers, it means that our goal is not simply to say what we have to say as best as we can, to believe what we say as fully as we can — which we requires no skill of ours, but is completely owing to the Holy Spirit.
This has changed the way I think about sermon feedback — which we all get from time to time, some good and some bad. Well, after a sermon, if I get positive feedback, if someone says: “Pastor, I really appreciated the sermon?” I’ll say, “I believed everything I said.” (I also say “thank you” and “praise God” — but saying that “I believed everything I said” reorients the attention from myself to the work of God. Most of the time people’s positive feedback is a response to our skill — it’s what you said or how you said it — but the real miracle is that we believed what we said.
It’s that we have encountered God in the text, and in our proclaiming him from that text, we submit ourselves to what we’re saying. It’s that the word we’re speaking is a word that we put ourselves under in wonder.
Now of course this isn’t every single sentence in the sermon, but there are real points in the preaching — high points when the truth is so rich — that our hearts just soar and we marvel at God as we tell of him. That’s how we preach as worship — the grand subject of the Bible, and of our sermon — GOD — is the grandest subject in the room. Here he is. Behold him.
We don’t say [meh] “Behold your God” [non-chalantly], but BEHOLD YOUR GOD!
We should prepare our sermons with these points in mind, and we should pray for them. That’s preaching as worship — Part One — now here’s Part Two: How does this kind of preaching fit into the greater worship service?
Part Two: How does this kind of preaching fit into the whole worship service?
This is where I wanna try to get really practical. Here’s another way to ask the question: Is there a way to structure a worship service that is most congruent to this vision of “preaching as worship”?
Now I think the answer is Yes — and I’ve shared an earlier version of these things with a group of pastors before — but to put all my cards on the table, since we planted our church seven years ago, we basically tried to develop a liturgy that best features preaching as worship. And we’ve changed some small pieces here and there, but the hope has been to have a cohesive service of worship that has preaching right at the center. And there are five commitments that aim in this direction, and for the rest of our time, I’d like to share with you for you to consider. And I really do mean consider. At best these five commitments are only tactics; they’re not rules. There should be room for exceptions, and flexibility is important. And so with with that as the disclaimer, here you go. …
Five liturgical commitments that serve preaching as worship:
#1. Maximize the opportunity to welcome people and call them to worship.
First, for us, we need to recognize that the window of time just before arriving to corporate worship on Sunday morning is crazy for everybody (not just us).
I don’t know about you, but I feel like Sunday mornings before church are diciest moments of the week. My wife and I have eight children, and it’s never simple for my family to herd all the the children in the van, and do car seats, and make sure everybody’s got their stuff — and don’t kick your brother; stop screaming; No, you can’t bring Legos. — Lord, help me! It can be a stressful time.
But really, it can be a stressful time for everybody — or at least, most people.
So think with me here. Use your imagination for a minute: it’s Sunday morning, 9:55, and standing from wherever you stand, you catch a glimpse of the people coming in the doors of the church and finding their seats.
And as you see these people you remember that everybody is always coming from somewhere, and again, for most of these people, if they’re anything like you, they’re probably not coming from the best of places. And for some, they’re coming from a much worse place than where you’ve been.
Only God knows all the roads that have led to this assembled wonder of sinners and saints. Only God knows the emotional pain and confusion people have brought in with them, or the regret they can’t shake from the week before (or the night before or whatever), or maybe their carry cynicism or maybe curiosity. There are as many situations and stories in this room as there are people, but they’re all here, in this room, and why are they here?
Do you ever wonder that? Do you take it for granted? Why are these people here?
They are here because God has brought them here.
God in his providence has ordained that these people will be here today. And one of the first things you get to do for these people is to welcome them on God’s behalf.
Now, hopefully, they’ve been greeted and welcomed before they even sit down … because you’ve got greeters at the doors, and other church members who are scanning for new faces and old faces; and people are extending their hands and smiling and saying hello. All of that is important.
But then when all the shuffling stops and the talking hushes, one person will stand up in front of this church and say something, and whether it’s you, pastor, or someone else, whatever it is this person might say, however it is this person might say it, there is an opportunity to represent God in welcoming this room full of embodied souls.
And I encourage you to maximize that opportunity.
Remember people have come from all over the map — remind them that God wants them there. Tell them that you are glad they are there.
And then call them to worship. Despite how casual your church’s culture might be, this is a moment that should not be casual. Say something and/or pray in a way that prepares people for an encounter with God.
That’s the first commitment to make that sets up everything else.
Second thing to consider:
#3. Don’t front-load announcements, and leave them out of the sermon.
Every church has announcements to make about the life of the church because every church has a life. We are an active people in community and on mission, and we have good things happening outside the hour and fifteen minutes of our worship together on Sundays — and at some point in that hour and fifteen minutes together, it makes sense that we announce those things. However, I want to encourage you to consider holding as many of those announcements as possible for the end of the service, not the beginning.
The reason for this twofold:
First, it’s that the announcements of church activities and opportunities fit better when they are batched closer to the time when they be acted on.
For example, if you’re having a men’s retreat, and you want the men to sign up for the men’s retreat, don’t tell them to sign up for the men’s retreat and then tell them to stand up and sing. Wait and encourage these men to sign up after the service, when we transition from being the church gathered in worship [vertical], to the church sent out on mission [horizontal].
We’ve been here, and now we’re going there. And that’s the natural time to mention things about the life of our church and announce all that’s going on.
The second reason to hold announcements for the end is that, if we mention all these things at the front of the service, then it competes with our first commitment about welcome and the call to worship.
I’m convinced that, for the first 5–10 minutes of the service, practically speaking, less is more. I think a solid welcome and call to worship needs some space to breathe. People are already coming from who know’s what, remember, with all kinds of stuff going on, and you want to help steady their hearts to behold the glory of God. Don’t let good announcements crowd that.
So I encourage you to consider holding announcements for the end.
But, most importantly, I think, whether you make the announcements at the beginning or the end — or some at the beginning, and some at the end — do not make announcements during the moment of preaching.
And there are several reasons for this, but the most practical reason is that it makes the sermon unnecessarily long. There are some guys who might preach 50 minutes, but 15 minutes of the sermon they were talking about the upcoming membership meeting or the new online giving platform or whatever — all these things are important, but good things can distract from the most important thing in this particular moment, which is preaching the Word of God.
The preaching, which is most likely the longest unbroken portion of your service, and usually at the center of your service, should be allowed to do what makes it unique, and that is to tell the church what God has to say.
This brings me to the third commitment:
#3. Distinguish the Scripture reading and preaching from every other form of speech in the service.
Now, I am saying Scripture reading and preaching separately because some churches will have a Scripture reader come and read the text before the preacher; other churches will have the preacher read the text himself. You can practice this commitment either way.
The idea is that because the Scripture reading and preaching are so unique — because you’re about to explain what the Bible says as you worship the God who said it — incorporate some kind of liturgical action to honor the sacredness of this moment.
And there’s a good chance we already do this in some way.
I grew up in North Carolina, and I went to a Southern Baptist church out in the country — I didn’t have a pastor, I had a preacher — Preacher Timmy — and he would have liked word “liturgy” as much as he liked the words “communism” and “sissy.” But he had a liturgical commitment before he’d read the Bible.
It didn’t matter what had happened in the service before he came up to preach — we might have taken prayer requests from the floor; there might have been a soloist who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket; it didn’t matter — when it was preaching time, Preacher Timmy would go behind the pulpit and say: “Let’s all stand in honor and reverence for the reading of God’s word.” That same sentence every Sunday.
And I was a little kid and didn’t know anything, but I knew this moment meant something. Because everybody was standing, and nobody’s got their phone out 30 years ago; it’s just open Bibles everywhere, and everybody’s looking at their Bibles, and he’d read it.
A lot of words get said throughout a church service, but in this moment of the Scripture reading, more directly than any other moment, we are hearing from God. So I think it is a good practice, and most congruent with preaching as worship, to do something to set this moment part. Do something to say, Hey, this part is different from the other parts.
At our church, we don’t stand corporately for the Scripture reading (yet), but the Scripture reader, after he announces the passage and gives people a few seconds the turn there, he starts his reading by saying, “Hear the word of the Lord.” And he means exactly what he says.
Hey, everybody, listen up. Give your attention to what God has to say. Open your heart to this. Receive this. God is speaking to us.
The Scripture readers reads from the Bible, and then the preacher comes and preaches. And it’s clear that this preacher is not coming up here to tell you what he thinks. But he is coming up here under the authority of that Word you just heard. And he’s going to do what Ezra did — he’s going to tell you what the Word of the Lord means. He’s going to help you understand it.
Which brings us to the fourth commitment:
#4. Guard the preaching moment from being rushed.
Now, having been welcomed and called to worship, undistracted by announcements because we’re holding those for the end, and having heard the Word of God set apart and read, don’t rush the moment of preaching. Don’t squeeze it.
If other parts of the service have gone long — which they can at times — don’t make up for that by cutting the sermon. A lot of times this might seem like a real-time, moment-of decision — and sometimes it is, but there are some things you can do going into the service.
For example, if after working on the passage and writing out my manuscript or notes, if I knew my sermon was going to be longer than usual, I’ve got three options:
I can just cut a section from the sermon and reduce its length
I can suggest we sing one less song
I can talk really fast and get through it quickly
Well, first, try to cut it down. I don’t think we need to preach 50 minutes. Over time, I believe we’ll serve our people better with consistently, faithful 35-minute sermons that with 50-minute sermons of rambling. So think critically: what could I leave out here? What could I take out and turn into a reflection for this week’s email? Think that way, first, and that usually does it.
But then if you still think it’s gonna be long, talk to your music leader — maybe buy him a cup of coffee and a donut — and tell him we need to cut one song. But don’t, in the moment of preaching, don’t rush what you’re saying in an attempt to fit the whole service into a certain time.
I have made this mistake at least once — November 6, 2016 — the first part of our service went a little long; I was preaching Genesis Chapter 10; it was about a 4,000-word sermon; I preached it in 27 minutes. And look, math is not my thing — but that means I spoke 2-and-a-half words per second for 27 straight minutes. … I need to tell God and our church that I’m sorry.
We shouldn’t rush the preaching, brothers! Again, this is the moment where the preacher, filled by the Holy Spirit, with his Bible open, is going to tell us what the Bible says as he worships — and leads us to worship — the God who said it.
There is a sense in which, as a preacher, as you stand before the church to preach, you realize that it’s possible that you’re about to tell these people the most important thing you’ve ever said in your entire life. You want to feel that.
And the effect this should have on us is not to make us sullen and overly serious and intense. No! But it should make us protect that time. Don’t just “get it over with.” Don’t rush the preaching.
That’s the fourth commitment, and now here’s the last:
#5. Receive the Lord’s Table at the close of each sermon.
Again, I want to remind you of my disclaimer at the start. I am only offering this as something to consider, but here’s at least why I think this is worth doing. And it all has to do with the preaching.
In the preaching of God’s word, what is the main thing you’re trying to do?
We believe that preaching is worship — expository exultation … the preacher is explaining what the Bible says as he worships the God who said it, and leads others to worship the God who said it. And this work of preaching is at the very heart of the pastoral vocation: we are to call and lead people to worship God by giving them Jesus.
Now, that might be our goal, and we might actually say things like this in the sermon, but often the last thing you do is the action that speaks louder than words. So when it comes to preaching, how are you ending?
Well, a good way to assess whether you’re preaching for worship or something else is to consider what we’re preaching to. Are you ending on people’s hearts or their wills? Are we inviting them to come and adore OR are we telling them to go and do?
Now, there are moments in a sermon, because we are preaching the Bible, that we will tell our people to go and do. But the issue here is the primary application, the crescendo of the sermon, the thing that people are left with … and if you’re convinced that preaching is worship, your sermon should end on the glory of Jesus in the gospel, for your people’s delight in him.
Now there’s some theological freight behind this. It really comes back to how God is glorified in the display of his glory. Jonathan Edwards explains it like this:
God glorifies himself towards the creatures [in] two ways:
(1) by appearing to them, being manifested to their understanding; [preaching does this!]
(2) in communicating himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying the manifestations which he makes of himself. . . . God is glorified not only by his glory being seen, but by [his glory] being rejoiced in. . . . (Miscellanies)
Now if we agree with that — and I think we should — then the arc of my sermon is not to land on people’s toes; it’s not to hand them a “Christian to-do” list; it’s to show them Jesus. It’s to remind them what Jesus has done for them, and the ordinance that Jesus has given us for that is his Table.
And when I know that the Lord’s Table is going to follow this sermon I preach, I know that whatever I may get into during this sermon as I’m explaining what the Bible means, I am certain that we’re gonna end this thing with “See him! Behold him! HAVE HIM!”
And in that way, the preaching ends with what the preaching has mainly been about the whole time — and also what our calling is all about! — leading people to worship of God by giving them Jesus. Come and adore him. Rest in him. Delight in him.
* * *
Father in heaven, please bless these brothers and their preaching. Give them more of Jesus, and give their churches more of Jesus through them. I ask it in his name, amen.
