PREACHING MOTIVES

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.

Philippians 1:12-14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today is Sunday and many people will get up and attend a church to worship God. At each church will be a pastor who will deliver a message to them from the Bible but these pastors are as different as the sermons they preach. I know I have seen a variety of pastors, some good and others not so much. What made them different were their motives which became evident in the way they conducted their ministry work.

More on those motives in a moment but I want to first focus on the words of Paul from the first chapter of his letter to the Christians in Philippi, a key trade city in Macedonia. Look at what he writes in regard to the first century pastors he engaged with during his missionary journeys:

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. Vv. 12-14

Here we find the Apostle basically placing pastors in his day within two categories: those who were engaged in ministry for their own gain and those who legitimately pastured as Jesus intended, out of love for the lost, those who need salvation.

The self centered pastors saw Paul and other ministers of the Word as competition. The Christian church was just starting up and most pastors would want to have large congregations of people because as the old saying goes, “There is power in numbers.” Given that Paul was incarcerated, there were preachers who sought to maximize on the advantage and “stir up trouble” while he was “in chains”. This capitalizing on Paul’s misfortune would include taking liberties with the Gospel and its basic tenets, often times even falsely preaching the good news about Jesus. In fact, we know that a specific group, the Judaizers in particular, were pushing that components of the Law like circumcision were an added requirement to believing in Jesus in order for someone to be saved. Self centered pastors will make the Gospel look like what they want it to look like to meet their agendas.

In contrast to these pastors were the ones who sought to emulate and mimic the Apostle in the way they delivered the Gospel. These ministers were only focused on loving others just as Christ Jesus did, willing to put themselves aside for the good of those they wanted to help save. Rather than contradict, discredit, and undermine Paul, these pastors supported and reinforced Paul’s Gospel work, knowing that his imprisonment was for the cause of Christ and that cause needed to be carried on.

Today, we have pastors who are more interested in glorifying themselves than they are the Lord. They view their place as the head of the church more than Christ Himself and their actions are born more from a love of the power they possess than the love of the people they pastor. These pastors view other churches as competition, a threat to the prowess they covet so much. They also view people within the church as their opponents if those people begin to gain any kind of respectability and respect from the congregation themselves. Any threat to these pastors’ perceived position and popularity are quickly snuffed out. I have had the unfortunate experience of serving a pastor such as this.

Conversely, I have also served pastors who were laser-focused on loving the people that the Lord brought to them for shepherding. The Gospel is centered on loving within the church as Christ loves and these pastors display the proper love conduct from the top down. They are not only deeply invested in Jesus but in the people they preach to, and they show it, not with just words but actions.

Two different preaching motives.

Once centered on self and the other focused on loving Christ and others for the cause of the Gospel.

Which of these do you see in your pastor?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com