It is not just that the pastor must preach, but that he must preach the Word. This is best accomplished through biblical exposition. But, before we get there, we must ask the important question of “why preaching?” The determination to preach the Word is first a theological commitment. We preach the Word because the Word is true, authoritative, and life-giving. 

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the longtime pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, England, described preaching as, “The highest, the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.”[1] I share Lloyd-Jones’ lofty assessment of preaching. The call to preach is a sacred one, and the task of preaching should be undertaken with clarity, conviction, and passion.

It is easy to see that the modern pastor wears many hats. Yet, within the context of the local church, I believe preaching is the pastor’s preeminent responsibility. Preaching is his indispensable task, his most paramount duty, and his most consequential and urgent job assignment. For the pastor, preaching is priority #1.

What is more, it is not just that the pastor must preach, but that he must preach the Word. This is best accomplished through biblical exposition. But, before we get there, we must ask the important question of “why preaching?”

 The determination to preach the Word is first a theological commitment. We preach the Word because the Word is true, authoritative, and life-giving. Scripture is replete with this self-attestation. For instance, consider 1 Peter 1:23–25:

For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, {that is,} through the living and enduring word of God. For, all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which was preached to you.

Similarly, James testifies, “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures” (1:18).

These passages teach us that the Lord works sovereignly in the heart of the hearer by His Spirit and through His Word. Believing this Word-Spirit dynamic is a theological commitment, and thus pushes one toward biblical exposition. As Lloyd-Jones observed:

The ultimate justification for asserting the primacy of preaching is theological. In other words, I would argue that the whole message of the Bible asserts this and drives us to this conclusion. I mean that the moment you consider man’s real need, and also the nature of salvation announced and proclaimed in the Scriptures, you are driven to the conclusion that the primary task of the church is to preach and proclaim this, to show man’s real need, and to show the only remedy, the only cure for it.[2]

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