Calvary Distinctives – The Word
Servant
School
May
13, 2021
Introduction
This lesson on
the Calvary Chapel Distinctives comes from chapter 6, The Priority of the Word
This chapter discusses the content of a pastor’s message on Sunday morning.
When I was
growing up, most pastors taught what we would call a “topical” sermon.
The idea of a topical sermon is that a pastor picks a subject he wants to talk about, and
then develops his sermon around a particular subject or “topic”.
There’s nothing wrong with a topical sermon. In the right place with the right subject, a
topical sermon can be very helpful indeed.
I’ve done
series of sermons on marriage, on the Holy Spirit, on discipleship, and on the
End Times, among other topics.
But if all a pastor teaches is topical sermons, the danger comes in getting
a little out of balance when it comes to choosing which subjects to teach on.
A pastor can
find himself only talking about his five pet subjects over
and over again.
Another risk to
topical sermons is the loss of context.
If the pastor is only sharing a Bible verse here and there, the church
doesn’t always understand the actual context of the passage the pastor is
quoting, and that can lead to problems when the church stops seeing how the
Bible actually fits together. They only see the Bible as a series of key
verses instead of a continuous story.
There are a lot
of things that a pastor can talk about.
Some good, some not so good.
When I was
growing up in the Methodist church, the pastor went through a series of sermons
where he based his message each week on a song from Simon and Garfunkel. He would play a song (“Sounds of Silence”),
and then base his sermon on that. I was
in 4th grade at the time. I
remember thinking I could never grow up to be a minister because I’d never know
what to talk about.
Some pastors
pick subjects that might as well have come from a Dr. Phil show.
Some pastors
make it their goal to make you feel “happy” each week.
With Calvary
Chapel, we prefer what’s known as “Expositional Teaching”, to take a book of the Bible and
teach through it, chapter
by chapter, verse
by verse.
I’ve had folks come up to me after teaching and tell me that the message
was just for them, but it wasn’t because I tried to make the message for them,
I simply based the message on the truth that was in the passage before us.
I pray and trust that the Holy Spirit was also involved in both my
preparation, and the congregation’s hearing.
It spoke to them because God’s Word is living and active, and the Holy
Spirit used the Word to speak to them.
I’m going to
show you a clip from 2009 where Chuck explains how he developed his style of
teaching from the Bible. It’s an interesting lesson to see how God worked this
out in Chuck’s life. It might not be
what you think…
Excerpt from 6:40 – 17:30
Of
course Chuck didn’t stay in Huntington
Beach. His denomination moved him around
several times before he ended up leaving the denomination, and eventually landed
at a little country church in Costa Mesa.
Calvary Chapel
is not unique in basing the Sunday morning sermon on expositional teaching.
When I was
growing up in the 70’s, Charles Swindoll was growing his church in Fullerton, known as EV
Free. His messages were
expositional.
His background wasn’t with Calvary Chapel, but he came out of Dallas
Theological Seminary, which placed great emphasis on Bible Exposition.
Years and years
ago the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles placed a great emphasis on Bible
exposition, dating back to the early 1900’s.
The Church
of the Open Door would eventually start the Bible Institute of Los Angeles
(also known as BIOLA),
and along with Talbot Theological Seminary, they are great proponents of expository
Bible teaching. If you’ve ever heard J.Vernon
McGee on the radio, that’s where he came from.
What has made
Calvary Chapel a little unique was Chuck coming from a Pentecostal background, having
an understanding of the working and baptism of the Holy Spirit, and combining that with
expositional teaching.
That’s what I’ve always loved about Calvary Chapel – the balance of the teaching
of the Bible and the work of the Holy Spirit.
One of the
patterns of expositional teaching we see in Scripture is found in the book of
Nehemiah, after the people have returned from Babylon and the walls of
Jerusalem had been rebuilt. The people
gathered in the city square while the priest Ezra taught…
(Nehemiah 8:8 NKJV) So they read
distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.
This is at the core of what we call “expository teaching”.
We read from God’s Word, and we give the “sense”,
helping people to understand the text.
In our church, we currently have four different pastors
whom you will hear teach on Sundays. And
just in case you haven’t noticed, they all have a little different style in how
they teach.
The styles may be different, but the process is the same.
Reading and explaining the text.
We want to base
our instruction on God’s Word, because that’s what is truly valuable to a
believer.
(2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV) —16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work.
If we base our teaching on God’s Word, we will be helping men and women to
mature in their faith, and equipping them to serve the
Lord like He wants.
Here’s one last word from Chuck (from 2013)
Video: Chuck Smith Man of Impact – the Word of God
Hope that helps