| “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” |
| —2 Timothy 4:2 |
Here’s a question to consider:
“What does it really mean to be a called servant of the Most High God?”
As I attempt to answer that question, I must confess to you that, apart from a relatively small specific number of ministers, over the last sixty-five years I have become somewhat leery of most of the pastors who have crossed the pathway of my life. Across the course of my career, I have had the privilege of working with a very large number of different ministers—in fact, at last count I have had some interaction with over 350 pastors. Many of them were sincerely trying to serve God. In contrast, a very few other pastors had significant personality anomalies. And one, in particular, showed signs that suggested he was a vicious sociopath.
The sociopath was the most dangerous. He had a unique gift from the evil one that enabled him to endear himself to those he wanted to control. And, he also had an uncanny ability to detect those he could not fool. Thus, he surrounded himself with “buddies” who would help him damage or destroy those individuals he considered “targets.” He lavished his favor on the “buddies” in order to control them. And, he systematically harmed the “targets,” largely because they were individuals that he could not control.
Please take note of these words of admonition from the Apostle Paul to a fellow minister, his “son in the faith” Timothy, as recorded in 2 Timothy 4:1-5:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
So how do genuine servants of the risen Christ answer the question:
“What does it really mean to be a called servant of the Most High God?”
Here is one observation recently posted by one of my dear ministerial friends:
In the course of a 40-year ministry, I have preached thousands of sermons. I’ve preached very few in the last six years, however, and none at all in the last 16 months, so I’ve had ample opportunity to ponder the preacher’s role without being under pressure to prepare sermons.
One conclusion: I need to repent and to confess that most of the times I preached, my spirit was consumed with my skill as a public speaker, my authority as a ‘minister,’ and pride. The larger the crowd, the more those elements consumed me.
I am only beginning to see the degree to which I reflected attitudes and influences that are exactly the opposite of those appropriate for a preacher, i.e. humility, gratitude, and an overwhelming sense of how great a privilege it is to stand before a group of God’s people as a channel for a word from God.
If someone were to ask me today how to evaluate a preacher and a sermon, I would say:Those characteristics won’t build a megachurch, but they will more faithfully reflect the character of Jesus.“Look for clear and obvious signs that the preacher is aware of his or her own humanity and recognizes how great a privilege it is to be a preacher among the people of God.
“Look for humility and a sense of almost debilitating awareness of the reality and presence of God.”
To this declaration, I add a hearty: “Amen!”
Based on a blog originally posted on Wednesday, April 22, 2015
