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 If
worship service attendance be a fair indicator, there are many
who feel that nothing needs preaching. Some who do attend lament
about nothing being preached — and preached, and preached.
Others seem to like it like that. But regardless of personal
preferences, public preaching has an important and God-given
place deserving of our respect. The content of such preaching is
equally important. For Paul that meant preaching the whole
counsel of God and not shunning to declare anything that was
profitable (Acts 2O:2O--27). Not all medicine that does good
tastes good and not all preaching that profits is pleasant.
Reproof and rebuke are essential in preaching the word (2 Tim.
4:2), but that which is aimed at other people in other places is
not likely to have much effect locally. As a preacher friend
says, “put the salve where the sore is!”. To put it another
way, pertinent preaching must include dealing with
prevailing problems among~. And that is not always an easy
task — as most preachers will “amen”.
No
preacher would have found it easy or pleasant to preach what
Stephen preached in his last sermon — but it was needful. When
Paul saw that Peter and others “walked not uprightly according
to the truth of the gospel”, he dealt with them promptly and
“to the face” (Gal. 2:11ff). Whether the problem was false
teaching or immorality, Paul told brethren what they needed to
hear and when they needed to hear it, even when it made them
sorry (2 Cor. 7:8). Were Paul and Stephen wrong? If not, then
why would similar efforts by faithful evangelists be less
appreciated now?
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Regrettably,
however, it seems that a few preachers are reluctant to speak
out on what they think might be volatile issues among their
brethren. Worse, some of the brethren love to have it so (as Jer.
5:30). Such, like those in Stephen’s audience, have
uncircumcised hearts and ears especially with reference to
certain subjects. We read of Paul facing such a group in Acts
22. They were willing to listen — until he mentioned a subject
they didn’t like. Most among us have long lamented the
refusals of others to hear the “whole counsel of God” on
such subjects as baptism. Yet, some claiming to be Christians
manifest a similar disposition, only toward other divine
counsel. Until we are prepared to receive it (all of it), we are
not really prepared to recommend it. Bad enough that some would
“time-out” certain preaching or that some would go elsewhere
to avoid hearing it, but what have we come to when gospel
preachers are discouraged or outright forbidden to speak about
the sins in their midst? Can this be far from what Paul wrote
about those who would not endure the sound doctrine? (2 Tim.
4:3) Brethren, when the time comes that we would try to muzzle
the faithful gospel preacher in order to appease the sinner, we’re
in trouble.
What
needs preaching? For starters tell me what men don’t want to
hear. That’s the second thing they need to hear. The first
thing they need to hear and learn is what it means to love
the Truth and its Author. Suppressing truth is like “pulling
the plug” on our spiritual-life support system — we just
can't live without it!
Dan
S. Shipley
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