According to Luke 4:43, preaching was Jesus’ highest priority.  But what does it mean for preachers today to preach like Jesus?  Alistair Begg outlines four ways:

1. Present a crossroads.  Jesus commanded a response.  No-one could remain neutral or indifferent.  When we preach we, too, should present a crossroads to our hearers.  ‘Here are the two directions you might take: which will it be?’  Like Paul, we should be willing to implore our hearers regarding the choice that lies before them (2 Cor 5:20).

2. Let Christ be the offence.  There are many ways in which preacher might offend their hearers.  They might be insensitive, rude, unduly provocative, and so on.  But there is one form – and only one form – of offence that is not only permissible but sometimes inevitable.  And that is when Christ himself is the offence.  It was precisely because his fellow townspeople understood what he was saying about himself and about them that they sought to thrown him off a cliff (Lk 4:28f).

3. Let God determine the means and the ends.  Jesus did not let the crowds determine the course of his ministry.  He did not give them what they wanted, but what they needed.  We must heed Paul’s warning to Timothy about hearers with ‘itching ears’ who flock after preachers who will tell them what they want to hear (2 Tim 4:3).

4. Preach the exclusivity of Christ.  Jesus had no interest in being accepted as one option among many.  He craved no place in the Roman pantheon.  He was prepared to make himself unpopular by his claims to exclusivity.  He infuriated his hearers by declaring: ‘Before Abraham was, I am’ (Jn 8:58).  Once again, we do not set out to offend people.  But our committed to the Lordship of Christ over everyone and everything demands that we speak the truth, even when it is dangerous to do so.

In such ways, our ministry can have integrity, and we can leave the outcomes to the Good Shepherd.