2 Timothy 4:2

preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

Preach the word ... Something of what this means has been lost in the modern definition of preaching. The true meaning is "Herald the word of God in its completeness, not altering it in any way, nor adding anything of his own that is borrowed from another source."[3] It also includes the mandate to announce to men the total message as God gave it. Paul said, "I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). The brilliant little intellectual essays, just as suitable for the Kiwanis club as for any church of any name, which are the stock in trade of modern "preaching," simply do not qualify as "preaching" in the New Testament frame of reference. Again from Lenski, "Many a preacher who should be a herald and is not ... must stammer and blush when he faces Christ's appearance and his kingdom."[4]

Be urgent in season, out of season ... To state this negatively, it means that preaching should not be limited to convenient times or to those occasions purported to be propitious. As White said:

Do not ask yourself if this is a suitable occasion for preaching? but ask rather why this should not be a suitable occasion. Have no limited season; let it always be thy season.[5]

What God wants of his ministers was stated positively by Spence in these words:

(He wants) a restless, sleepless earnestness, which struggles on with the Master's work in spite of bodily weakness and discouragement, in face of dangers and the bitterest opposition.[6]

Reprove ... This means to censure, as for a fault, and to express disapproval of the actions of others, certain]y a lost art in modern preaching.

Rebuke ... This is even a stronger word that means "to reprove sharply, to reprimand with authority." The preacher should never forget WHOSE word it is that he preaches.

Exhort ... The meaning here is "to urge by earnest appeal or argument," but it also carries the idea of persuasion.

With all longsuffering and teaching ... The love and tenderness of the preacher are required by this. The true preacher should not be like Jonah who indeed heralded the message of God, inwardly hoping to see the awful sentence executed, who did not even invite his hearers to repent, who indeed hoped they would not heed the message, and who was disappointed and angry when they did!

[3] Ibid., p. 852.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Newport J. D. White, Expositor's Greek New Testament, Vol. IV (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967). p. 176.

[6] H. D. M. Spence, Ellicott's Commentary on the Holy Bible, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House. 1970), p. 239.