In a recent enewsletter – “The Collapse of News is Nothing to Cheer” (February 02, 2024) – by National Review writer, Jim Geraghty, he quotes from another writer, Sebastian Junger. Junger’s article is entailed “When Journalism Dies.” Junger says this about journalism:
“…we can state that a journalist is a person who is willing to destroy his own opinions with facts. A journalist is a person who is willing to report the truth regardless of consequences to herself or others. A journalist is a person who is focused on reality rather than outcome.”
What a powerful definition of a gospel preacher, don’t you think? I am not discounting the absolute need that we have to “speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15) and kindness, patience, and gentleness (2 Tim. 2:24-25). Those qualities are absolutely essential in preaching like Christ preached.
But we seem to have a generation of preachers now who set Ephesians 4:15 (at least the “love” part) against or in place of Acts 20:27 where Paul writes: “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” When gospel preachers become afraid of losing members if they call them to repentance, it seems to me that preaching has died.
Not too long ago, I had a conversation with a preacher-friend of mine who spent nearly 45 minutes of our phone conversation telling me that the obvious meaning of a certain passage could not be the correct meaning. Eventually, I asked him how we should understand the passage properly; his response was: “I don’t know.” That’s not good enough. Preaching has died If even “gospel preachers” are willing to distort the truth of God’s word (or run from teaching specific, unpleasant passages) because they are afraid they can’t otherwise get people into the baptistry.
We, especially Gospel preachers but all Christians who love the truth (2 Thess. 2:10), need to “destroy our own opinions” with facts from God’s word. Let’s get back to letting the text speak for itself and teach those facts, in the words of the “old-time preachers” (of whom my dad was one) “without fear or favor!”
Preachers need to be willing to teach the truth “regardless of consequences” to himself. First, a preacher should let a church know who is interviewing him for a job what his doctrinal convictions are on every major controversial issue. If he doesn’t, the elders or men who are interviewing him should make sure they ask those questions.
Jesus taught the truth and it led to His death. Jesus was the epitome of a gospel preacher who was focused on reality rather than outcome. The “reality” is that if you are faithful to God’s truth, the “outcome” is that you will be blessed immeasurably. If you are not faithful to God’s truth, it might be pleasant in this life, but it will not be pleasant in the next life. God struck Hananiah dead because He counseled rebellion against the Word of God (Jeremiah 28).
Paul Holland
