Preaching
Preaching at one of our Bible
conferences several years ago, Pastor Scot Richardson made a profound statement
about preaching. He said, “Preaching is getting a message from God’s heart to
my heart and delivering it to your heart. Anything else is just filling in
time.” What a profound, insightful, needful statement! The Lord God promised to
give his church pastors after his own heart, who would feed his people with
knowledge and with understanding (Jer. 3:15). He commands his prophets, “Speak
ye comfortably” (to the heart) to my people (Isa. 40:2). That is the
responsibility of every gospel preacher every time he speaks to eternity bound
men and women in the name of God. But it is a task no man can accomplish. The
only way any mere man can speak the things of God to the heart of another is if
God himself is please to speak through him.
When God Puts A Man Into The
Ministry
“How does a man know if he is
called of God to preach the gospel?” “How does God put a man into the
ministry?” I have been asked those two questions many times by many men. I gave
up the notion of telling others what God’s will is for them a long time ago.
Because I am aware of the fact that the Scriptures do not give precise answers
to those questions, I cannot speak with absolute certainty about them.
In the
Old Testament prophets were called immediately by God himself, by a direct,
unmistakable revelation—(Moses—Isaiah—Jeremiah—Ezekiel). In the New Testament
the apostles were called directly by Christ. The first seventy preachers were
sent out by the Master’s direct command. Other pastors and elders were chosen
and ordained by the Apostles.
Today we
do not have such advantages; and the Scriptures give us no clear instructions
in the matter. The Scriptures tell us the kind of man a pastor must be, and
tell us clearly what a pastor’s responsibilities are. But they do not
specifically tell us how God puts a man into the ministry, or how a man knows
that he is called of God to preach the gospel. So my answers to those questions
are just that, “my answers.” They arise from both my understanding of the
Scriptures and the observation of experience. But this is my best perception.
1. If God puts a man into the ministry he first puts grace
in his heart. No man is called OF God to preach the gospel who does not
know the gospel both doctrinally and experimentally.
2. Before God puts a man into the work of the ministry he proves
him as a faithful servant[1]
in his church. —“Not a novice!” No man will be faithful as a pastor who
is not faithful before becoming a pastor. A man who puts other things before
the worship of Christ, the cause of Christ, and the church of Christ will do no
better because someone gives him some ordination papers. He may be more regular
in outward attendance and in things seen and approved of by men, but he will be
the same, self-serving man he was before.
3. If the Lord God puts a man into the ministry he gives
him his message (Isa. 40)—Redemption Accomplished! —Salvation Free! —“All
Flesh is Grass!”—“Behold, Your God!”—Christ Enthroned!
4. If God puts a man into the ministry he gives him the
gifts necessary for the work. He makes him “apt to teach.” God
called men are gifted with an understanding of the Scriptures and the ability
to communicate the message of the Scriptures to others clearly.
5. If God puts a man into the ministry he gives him a place
to preach. As one old preacher put it years ago, “God never made a possum
without a persimmon tree; and he never made a preacher without a pulpit.” No
man has been called into the ministry who is not in the ministry.
6. If God puts a man into the ministry he gives him a
hearing. God’s preachers never have to look for a place to preach or for
people to hear them. When a man is sent of God, he is sent to a people who want
to hear his message. (Acts 10:33—“Now therefore are we all here present
before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.”) God’s
servants look to him to open doors before them, and wait for him to do so. They
do not make a way for themselves. A man’s gift makes room for him (Pro. 18:16).
7. When God puts a man into the ministry he gives him the
support of his fellow-laborers in the gospel. All God’s prophets see eye to
eye with regard to the gospel (Isa. 52:8) and labor together as one in the
cause of Christ.
Preaching From The Heart
When I hear a man preach, I want
to hear a man preach from his heart. When I preach, I want to preach from my
heart. Let no one mistake my meaning. I do not suggest or imply that doctrine
is secondary. It is not. Gospel doctrine is vital. But the gospel must be
preached from the heart, passionately.
Two
hundred years ago John Rusk wrote, “I want an experimental preacher, one who,
when he has had one meal, is tried how he shall get the next; one who is
tormented with devils fit to tear him limb from limb; one who feels hell inside
himself and every corruption in his nature stirred up to oppose God’s work; one
who feels so weak that every day he gets over he views it as next to a
miracle.”
“Made A Minister”
Paul said, “I was made a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual
working of his power.” God had called him to preach the gospel. He knew it.
He was humbled by it. He rejoiced in it. And he trembled because of it. Only
God himself can make a man a preacher. That man who is called of God to the
work of preaching the gospel has a direct commission and call from Christ, and
it is unmistakably clear. He knows that he has been sent of God. Any man who is
called of God to this great work takes the work seriously and earnestly seeks a
message from Christ as he stands to speak for Christ. God called men preach
with urgency because they have experienced in their souls the message they
preach. They carry in their souls “the burden of the word of the Lord.” They
preach with urgency because they know for whom they speak and because they know
the serious consequences of their message.
[1] The fact is—If we are born of God we are his servants. He has put us into the ministry. Some serve in one capacity and some in another. But we are all his witnesses and his servants. And each of us is useful only in the place God has put us.
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