Most people whom I have met within the circle of people called “Christians” have not been exceptionally zealous to learn the message of the Bible, in fact most of them have been content to believe whatever the “preacher” has taught. There is merit in this, of course, but Acts 17:11-12 says of Jews in the synagogue in Berea: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.” The main reason that any of us would preach from God’s Word is that we desire to be heard by those who sit before us. To be heard is something more than someone listening and perhaps giving an “amen”, rather it is for one to both hear the audible message of the preacher or teachers, and then to search out what has been said to ascertain its accuracy! After determining the accuracy of the message, the next step is to obey what the message demands. This is exactly what I desire from my listener, or my readers! It is not worth much to talk, or write, if those who hear or read our words do not seek to know the truth of them, and when they have ascertained the truthfulness of our words, to act on them in obedience to the actions the words have sought to produce!
Please notice that our verses above concerning the people of Berea give proof that the listeners were eager to obey what Paul and Silas had said. It might come as a shock for some for me to say that the matter of preaching is not primarily to get the agreement or applause of the people, but rather to stir the hearts of the listeners to obey what the message has taught. No school teacher would be content for a student to say, “I agree with all that you have said about how to solve this math problem; you are a good teacher.” Rather, the teacher desires that the student should learn to solve problems for themselves. I have the idea that many who listen to preaching and teaching on a weekly basis have little real desire to put to message to work in their own lives to bring about the change that God desires, yet the primary reason for delivering God’s message is this very thing! Perhaps I can make my point clear in this statement: church is not a place for people to come so they can feel better about themselves, rather it is a place to hear from God through His messenger and to seek to have God change what needs to be changed in the lives of the hearers! We have basically discarded this particular idea in many of our churches, thus people come in to get a “refreshing and recharging”, while continuing to live life as they did before attending God’s house.
Some people think of “devotionals” in this way, but Jesus did not come to earth to give devotionals, rather He came to deliver the message of God to Israel, showing them that they were sinners against God, but primarily to die for their sins and the sins of the entire world. Jesus did not necessarily desire to “beat people over the head” with His message, but He came to deliver the message of the Father, and that message was a tool to convict all who were not right with God according to His Word. When sinners, and sometimes saved people, have a problem with the preacher’s messages, it is often that there is something in the lives of the hearers that does not match the Word of God, thus the conflict usually brings “sparks”! In my thinking, we have had enough of the smooth messages that say, “Oh, you are really a good person, you just need some encouragement”. It is time we get back to the messages that convicted us when we were sinners, so that we sought to know the Lord in salvation. There is a vast difference in fixing an old house or building a new one; salvation is like a new house!
By J. Briggs King, Rainsville, AL (678) 451-0921