Brothers, don’t be afraid that you will fail to impress your hearers. Be afraid of preparing a feast for your members while you go home, week after week, famished. Pray for the humility and faith that you need as a preacher to be first a partaker of the fruit of your study.
There are not many callings in this fallen world that surpass the privilege of preaching. God has ordained that preaching would cause the light of his glory to shine upon sin-darkened hearts. He regularly uses preaching to bring into submission at the feet of Christ the lies that have long enslaved his people’s hearts and minds. And he desires that preaching would cause the knowledge of the holy to be advanced through the church. In short, preaching is a high calling.
And yet, in and around the shadows of the pulpit, soul-damning dangers lurk. Men better than us have fallen prey to the pitfalls of the pulpit. In this article, I want to articulate three dangers that threaten my own soul as a preacher who is desirous to fulfill his ministry. I pray for myself and my readers that the God who is able to keep us from stumbling will preserve us in this high and holy calling.
1. We can Mistake Knowing the Truth for Trusting in the Truth
As expository preachers, it’s our business to know God’s word. Ignorance has no place in the pulpit. Our task is to mine the truths of the Scriptures and proclaim them to our people with precision, persuasion, and passion. In a world where truth in the pulpit is sadly uncommon, many who listen to us come with the bare-minimum desire to be taught the truth plainly.
The danger, of course, is that there will be theologically sound preachers in hell. After all, “The demons also believe and tremble” (James 2:19). It’s easy to teach on the sovereignty of God while clinging to the idol of control. It’s easy to preach on the glory of God while seeking our own glory. It’s easy to flesh out justification by faith alone while finding our justification in our preaching of justification by faith alone. Indeed, “when I want to do what is good, evil is with me” (Romans 7:18-19).
We must not be deceived: no one was ever cured by selling medicine. For us the insult, “physician, heal thyself” must humble us and constantly call us to be partakers of the same remedy we prescribe. Our first calling must not be to expository preaching but to believing in Jesus. Our weekly labour must be aimed at more than ascending our pulpits with manuscripts spelling out God’s truth; we must aim for consciences cleansed by Christ’s blood, hearts singing of his matchless love, and minds captivated by the greatness of our God.
We must grow in the habit of responding to our own sermons in faith and repentance before and after we descend our pulpits. The best example I have seen of this is from a faithful pastor from across town who would often, as he interacted with his people after his preaching, share with his members the part of the sermon that most impacted him. He was a good model to me of maintaining my place under the rule of God’s word as a preacher.
Brothers, don’t be afraid that you will fail to impress your hearers. Be afraid of preparing a feast for your members while you go home, week after week, famished. Pray for the humility and faith that you need as a preacher to be first a partaker of the fruit of your study.
