Do not think the gospel is too old-fashioned to work. To the world, it is foolishness, but to those being saved, it is the power of God. Trust not in your own strength or ability, but in the power of God, who works through sermons—even those that are not all that good.

One of my wife’s and my favorite date night pastimes is “people watching.” People fascinate us, and seeing them out and about in their element is always entertaining. One of our favorite observations is a couple clearly on a first date. The nervousness is palpable—especially for the guy! I particularly enjoy watching when he is waging an internal war over what in tarnation to do with his hands! Does he put them in his lap? Does he lay them flat on the table? Or should he strike the “thinking man” pose? Ah! That’s the one! Now she’ll be so impressed by how thoughtful and deep you are that she’ll surely want to marry you before you leave this Whataburger!

But not all episodes of “people watching” are awkward rom-coms. Sometimes, they are heartwarming. Just the other day, we were seated next to a large group celebrating something. Among them was a man who stood out to me because, whenever I heard him speaking to someone, it was clear that they had never met before. At the close of the night, he got up, walked over to a woman standing next to my seat, shook her hand, and offered what might have been the most genuine display of appreciation I have ever witnessed. All he said was, “Thank you so much for inviting me! I had the greatest time!”

I have heard plenty of people say similar things when leaving a gathering, but I do not believe I have ever heard anyone mean it quite like he did.

There is something special about being invited into someone else’s world. It makes a person feel like they belong, rather than being an outsider. And that is, ultimately, what the Christian is trying to accomplish in outreach. Through the grace of God in us, we are reaching out to people so that we can bring them into our world—into the “world without end,” the Kingdom of Christ.

This article is the last in my three-part series on outreach and the ordinary means of grace, but it is certainly not the least, as it deals with the preaching of the Word of God. There is nothing people outside the church need more than preaching. Jesus was sent by His Father so that He might preach, and so He made it His chief priority to go throughout Israel proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God.¹ Paul’s great purpose in ministry was to show people that the way to God was not through works but through faith, and so he dedicated his life to preaching and raising up preachers.² Even the apostolic church itself was structured in a way that freed men to devote themselves to prayer and preaching.³

For these reasons, the church of Christ throughout the ages has emphasized the primacy of preaching. The Second Helvetic Confession states that the preaching of the Word “is the Word of God.” The Westminster Larger Catechism, in its answer to Question 155, declares:

“The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners; of driving them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ; of conforming them to his image, and subduing them to his will; of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions; of building them up in grace, and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.”

All of this is to say that preaching is critical to the salvation of sinners.

Because of this, the Christian church—by having preachers who are, to borrow the language of the Helvetic Confession, “lawfully called”—has something wonderful to offer our communities: the special means of their salvation.

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