The Equipping Ministry, Student Workbook, SW15

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T H E E Q U I P P I N G M I N I S T R Y

shame or equivocation wherever God leads, regardless of the consequences of the preaching. Fruitful preaching is grounded in the stewardship of the grace of God given to every man or woman called to proclaim God’s eternal word, that divine mystery described by Paul as the unsearchable riches of Christ. These deep claims reveal the nature of the preaching ministry. First, it is not of mere human will and effort. Paul was given a stewardship to declare the riches of Christ from God himself, a special endowment of grace that God alone could provide. Second, to Paul, preaching was not about gimmicks, tricks, technology, or the latest fad in communication. He was called by God to “preach the unsearchable riches of Christ,” in other words, to lay out for everyone the plan and purpose of God as he has been working it from the beginning through the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Third, his intention is not merely local but global, even cosmic. Paul saw that when he preached the truth concerning God’s salvation in Christ, he was collaborating with God Godself to declare to all the nations, and even the angels, the majesty of the purpose of God which was conceived in eternity and was now being played out here and now in the earth. Preaching was not merely saying a few words in a boring way to a group of people largely unconcerned about its content. Preaching was an event where the very mind of God was being made clear to those who needed to know of his mercy and grace in Christ. If you sense a call of God to preach, understand that you have been called to one of the greatest vocations that any human being could ever do. Resolve right here and right now to sharpen every faculty, learn every truth, prepare every work, fulfill every effort required in order to proclaim the Gospel with the same integrity and willingness to suffer displayed by Paul in his testimony to the Ephesians. Only when we are ready to be filled with all the fullness of God can we then be in a position to fill the souls of others with the Word of the Lord. Remember the words of Muddy Waters: “You cain’t give what you ain’t got, and you cain’t lose what you ain’t never had.” May God grant you all the grace, wisdom, and insight necessary in order to steward the grace that God has given to you, in order that you may faithfully proclaim through the Holy Spirit the unsearchable riches of Christ.

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