What happens when Preachers don’t preach the Word?
Preachers don’t preach the Word for some of the same reasons believers fail to do their jobs. For example, preachers found they lost members when they preached about sin and repentance to their membership. Sometimes church leaders even threatened them with termination if the church did not grow.
Numbers became more important than the truth of God.
These circumstances do not excuse preachers for only preaching on God’s love and mercy. However, they are still responsible for informing members that God expects something from them.
Accepting
Accepting Jesus as the Son of God is not like a paid-up insurance policy. When a person proclaims his belief it must be followed with fruit worthy of repentance. A follower of Jesus will produce fruit and will have a changed life.
God still hates sin and expects believers to obey His laws. They must repent of past sins, refrain from evil, and serve God with their talents.
You may think it is easy to preach to a congregation that believes they are “good Christians,” but it is not. To preach the Word, you must tell people what they are doing is wrong. No one likes to hear that they are sinning and going against God’s commands.
It makes a self-righteous person downright mad to hear that they are not doing their part in the kingdom of God.
God Speaks
In the day of Jeremiah, the prophet, preachers, or shepherds of God’s people, Israel, were not telling them they were sinning. So God tells them through the prophet Jeremiah the following.
6 “My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray;
They have turned them away on the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place. Jeremiah 50:6 NKJV
God attributes their lost condition to the preachers in Israel. Likewise, today people who believe in Jesus but do not follow His teachings and make Him Lord of their lives will be lost. Preachers need to tell them the truth!
Remember, 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. James 2:19 NIV
Preachers must preach God’s requirements for righteousness. We are not free to sin because Jesus died for our sins. He clearly states that those who love Him obey His commands. If you don’t follow His teachings you are not one of His redeemed.
Preachers want success
Those God calls to preach the Word has the same human desires as you and I. Almost everyone wants to be successful at what they do. Those called to preach are no different. They want to be looked up to and liked by everyone.
They want to make a difference in the world, and they want to see physical accomplishments. So it is easy to start looking at numbers and measuring success by how they grow.
However, numbers have never been a gauge of the spiritual health of a congregation. We have mega-churches that are spiritually sick. They grow through programs that entice individuals with various approaches, such as music, special effects, and feel-good doctrines.
True success
True success comes from preaching the whole message of God, even if it means that people leave.
Preachers often stop preaching the parts of God’s Word that may offend someone guilty of that sin. Today people want to feel good about themselves even as they make up their own doctrines. Doctrines that agree with Satan’s deception.
They may preach those parts of the scripture that make people feel good and do not touch on their morals or worldly views. Often they even appeal to human greed by the false doctrine of “name it and claim it” to draw more people.
Encourage your preacher to be unafraid to preach repentance from sin and a turning back to what the Bible teaches. What we feel in our hearts is only correct when it aligns with God’s Word. God is always right in what He says.
Preaching the Word costs
There is a cost to being a disciple of Jesus and an extra cost when you are a preacher of the Word. Even church members do not want to hear that what they are doing is not only wrong but supports the work of Satan.
Look at the prophet Jeremiah. To speak God’s Word, he was mistreated, thrown into an empty cistern, bound, and humiliated. Yet he spoke the Word of God with boldness before rulers and the house of Israel. He told them that God would punish them for turning away from Him.
In this wicked generation, preachers also face much grief when they speak the truths of God. As a result, they may see church attendance fall, be threatened, and even be kicked out of the church.
Early in Jesus’s ministry, He preached what we refer to as the sermon on the mount. In it, He pointed out a truth that still applies to us today. If you preach the truth, the world will hate you and try to destroy you.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man. Luke 6:22 NIV
Friend, this is true of all true believers as well as preachers. The world will label you as evil if you stand for the truth of God. It costs to be a faithful follower of Jesus.
If it does not cost you to be a follower, it is clear that you are not following Jesus and doing all He is telling you to do.
First, you must stand against the world philosophy promoted by Satan. When you stand against worldliness, you stand against what God calls sin and what the world calls choice. If you do these two things, the world will hate you.
Is preaching the whole Word of God worth the cost?
YES! If you believe and become a true disciple of Jesus.
Jesus warns us, 24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master Matthew 10:24 NKJV Jesus was hated because He told the truth. When the truth is preached, the world notices and tries to stop it. Likewise, the world will do everything possible to prevent a preacher from preaching against sin.
However, if you were to ask Jesus’s Twelve if it were worth the cost, you would receive a resounding YES! All twelve were willing to die to proclaim the saving message of Jesus. Only John died a natural death. The other eleven were horribly executed for preaching the truth.
Peter, who denied Jesus before He was crucified, had to answer the risen Lord and was pricked in the heart. Jesus asked him three times if Peter loved Him. Then commanded Peter to “Feed My sheep.” John 21:17 NKJV
Peter preached about Jesus and told of His death, burial, and resurrection until he was executed for it by Rome. So, like the other apostles, he paid with his life to obey Jesus’s commission.
Early Disciples
The early disciples of Jesus lived, and many died by this command Jesus gave to His Disciples.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV
Today we want an easy way into Heaven. We do not want to take a stand for the Bible or against the world’s ideas. If the world calls something good that God has called evil, we stand with the world against God.
Does that sound too harsh?
You find that God does not sugarcoat sin. He defines it for us and will not change. God has said what He hates and defined sin so there can be no mistakes. When we vote for those committed to evil, we vote against a righteous God. Politics is just one of the many testing grounds for followers of the Lord.
If you don’t believe this, you need only to look at His Word.
Pray for your Preacher and your Church
Jesus repeats this scripture from the Old Testament, 27 So he answered and said, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ “ Luke 10:27 NKJV
Preachers may love God with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind, but they still need the support of believers. They still need to proclaim God’s revealed laws so we can know them. You need to encourage them to proclaim the whole message of God and stand beside them when they come under attack.
They will be attacked if they preach the full message of righteousness. The attacks will come from those within and without the organized church.
You are responsible for judging what they say to ensure it is faithful to God’s Word. They need to know that you are standing with the Word.
If you love God you will try to obey His commandments, especially the two Jesus quotes above.
Come on brother, sister take your stand for a Holy God and all His ways.