Beware of Loving it Without Living It!
Introduction
In a message titled “Pastoral Leadership in a Postmodern World”, Dr. James Merritt shares, “Once when Billy Sunday [1862-1935] preached a hard message on sin somebody said ‘Billy, you gotta quit preaching that way. You're rubbing the fur on the cat the wrong way.’ Billy Sunday said, ‘The old cat's headed toward hell. If she'll turn around, I'll rub her the right way.’"[1]
Dr. Adrian Rogers (1931-2005) tells, “The great Southern Baptist preacher Dr. R.G. Lee [1886-1978] once preached a sermon against sin. He didn't pull any punches, but preached as hard as God gave him liberty to preach. At the end of the sermon a lady – terribly offended by the sermon – came up to Dr. Lee and said ‘I didn't appreciate that sermon one little bit’. Dr. Lee replied, ‘The devil didn't either. So classify yourself.’”[2]
A pastor shares, "I quoted the first line of a poem: 'I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day!' and an impatient, 8-year-old boy sitting on the front row with his parents spontaneously shouted 'YES!'"
Like it or not, preaching is part of the warp and woof of the fabric of the life of believers down through the ages. The practice of preaching began with Noah, “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). In An Exposition of the Old and New, Dr. John Gill (1697-1771), cites a work ascribed to R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus (80-118 C.E.), titled Pirke R. Eliezer or Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Eliezer shares an excerpt of Noah’s message according to Jewish tradition: “Be ye turned from your evil ways and works, lest the waters of the flood come upon you, and cut off all the seed of the children of men.”[3] Sadly, no one outside Noah’s immediate family believed.
In a similar way, the message of Jonah the prophet is recorded in the book that bears his name, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). The account of Jonah proves short sermons can be effective. In Jonah 3:5-10 we read, “So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.” This is the record of the greatest revival in history.
Scripture records the preaching of other Old Testament prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. We read the following doleful description of the dark times when Samuel lived, “The word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation” (1 Samuel 3:1b). Samuel, the last judge, was also a prophet. Amos known as a minor prophet proclaims, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord GOD, / ‘That I will send a famine on the land, / Not a famine of bread, / Nor a thirst for water, / But of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, / And from north to east; / They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, / But shall not find it” (Amos 8:11-12).
The apostles passed the practice of preaching to those who would come after them. For example, Paul the Apostle writes Timothy, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:1-5).
Recounting his ministry in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul stated, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).
Dr. John A. Broadus (1827-1895), author of a book on preaching that served as a standard for over 100 years, states, “Preaching is characteristic of Christianity. No other religion has made the regular and frequent assembling of groups of people, to hear religious instruction and exhortation, an integral part of Christian worship.”[4]
Hearing the word of God is important, but we must beware of loving it without living it. We read in Ezekiel 33:30-33, “As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. And when this comes to pass—surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
Please notice each of our points outlining this passage relate to the subject of preaching.
I. Favorable Comments
From Ezekiel 33:30 we read, “As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’”
Isaiah the prophet writes, “Therefore the Lord said: / ‘Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths / And honor Me with their lips, / But have removed their hearts far from Me, / And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men” (Isaiah 29:13). Citing and applying that text, Jesus said, “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: / ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, / And honor Me with their lips,/ But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, / Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matthew 15:8-9).
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, shares the following on “What Constitutes a Good Sermon”: “‘That was a good sermon,’ said Job Shuttle, as he sauntered out of the vestibule. ‘Pretty good,’ replied Patience. ‘I hope you'll profit by it.’ ‘Why, there was nothing in it that applied to me at all.’ ‘Oh, that's why you say it was 'a good sermon,' I suppose.’"[5]
We read about the sermon tasters in 1 Corinthians 1:21, “Now I say this, that each of you says, ‘I am of Paul,’ or ‘I am of Apollos,’ or ‘I am of Cephas,’ or ‘I am of Christ.’” We read about the shallow hearers in Matthew 13:5-6, 20-21, “Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.” Sermon tasters (1 Corinthians 1:12) and shallow hearers (Matthew 13:5-6, 20-21) can offer favorable comments about the message preached. However, it does not mean that they truly understand and believe the message.
II. Faulty Commitments
Further we read in Ezekiel 33:31-32, “So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.”
James writes, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:21-27).
Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ‘Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. ‘But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.’ And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:21-29).
In a parallel passage we read, Jesus asked, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:46-49).
Spurious decisions even come after hearing our Lord Jesus preach one of His peerless messages. Therefore, we should not be surprised that spurious decisions come after our preaching. When children come to be saved folks are concerned about spurious decisions. I am more concerned about spurious decisions among adults. Jesus said in Matthew 18:3, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” In Matthew 19:13-14 we read, “Then little children were brought to [Jesus] that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’”
Dr. James Merritt shares the following in the message I mentioned earlier, “I want to tell you about a man named Robert Eaglen. Most of you do not know who Robert Eaglen is, but you will when this message is over. He was a deacon in his church in Colchester, England. He woke up one Sunday morning in January. The ground was blanketed with a foot of snow. He started to turn over and go back to sleep, but he thought to himself, ‘I'm one of the deacons in my church. If the deacon's don't go, who will go?’ He put on his boots, hat, and coat and walked six miles to church. He was right. Most of the members did stay home. As a matter of fact, even the pastor didn’t show up. Only thirteen people were at church—twelve members and a thirteen year old boy he had never seen before.
Somebody said ‘Why don't we just sing a little bit and go home. We don't have a preacher.’ But Robert Eaglen said ‘It's foolish for us to come all this way and not have a worship service.’ ‘Who's going to preach?’ they asked. Impulsively, Robert said, ‘I'll preach.’ He’d never preached in his life. He got up and did not know what he was going to preach. I'm sure that's happened to some of us on Sunday nights, as well, but he didn't have a clue what he was going to be preaching. In his quiet time the day before he had been reading in Isaiah, so he turned to Isaiah 45:22, ‘Look to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.’ Later he recalled, ‘I preached maybe twelve minutes, and I must have said fifty times 'Look to Jesus.’ ‘It was all he knew to say. ‘Look to Jesus.’ He got through with saying ‘Look to Jesus’ about fifty times. He looked at that little thirteen year old boy and said ‘Young man, if you'll look to Jesus you'll be saved.’ And they had prayer and left.
That boy, years later, wrote these words: ‘I did look, and then and there the cloud on my heart lifted, the darkness rolled away. At that moment I saw the sun, I accepted Christ into my heart, and I was born again.’ That thirteen year old boy was Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
I thank God that Robert Eaglen didn't get up that day and preach a message on ‘How to be Up When the Weather is Down.’ Thank God he didn't get up and say ‘Let me talk to you today about how to glow in the snow.’ Thank God he didn't get up and preach a sermon called ‘Snow White and the Eleven Disciples.’ Thank God, he preached the Word. He shared the gospel with a thirteen year old boy and gave that boy an opportunity to be saved. We don't need to follow fads, fashions, or flakes.”[6]
III. Faithful Communication
Finally, in Ezekiel 33:33 we read, “And when this comes to pass—surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” Ezekiel writes earlier in Ezekiel 2:1-8, “So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking. And He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.’ Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me. And He said to me: ‘Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse—for they are a rebellious house—yet they will know that a prophet has been among them. ‘And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house. You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” This is my job description. As a lawyer said, “It is not my job to tell you what you want to hear, it is my job to tell you what you need to know.” Preachers truly called by God want to hear from God and state, “Thus saith the Lord God.” Today many preachers attempt to determine what people desire to hear and declare it to them.
When I preach I want you to hear not just the voice of a preacher, but I want you to hear the voice of God. Dr. James Merritt shares, “A young man just a while ago gave me one of the most encouraging testimonies I've heard in a long time. One of the men in this group came up to me and said ‘I got saved in 1997 as I was driving down the road in my truck listening to one of your tapes.’ I thought he was going to say, I was preaching on ‘Turn or Burn,’ or ‘If you don't get saved you'll fry like a wiener.’ But he said "The amazing thing about this sermon is, you weren't preaching on salvation, you were preaching on tithing.’ I said "Well, what happened?’ Of course people had been cultivating him and talking to him, and he says ‘I'm driving down the road listening to your message on tithing, and right in the middle of your message it hit me: I can't relate to tithing, because I don't even know God. I pulled my truck over by the side of the road, and I asked Jesus to come into my heart.’
‘Now let me get this straight,’ I said. ‘God took a message on tithing and convicted you of your lostness and your need to be saved?’ He said ‘Yes.’ Let me tell you something folks; that is the power of the Word of God.”[7]
We read about another prophet, “And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD” (1 Samuel 3:20).
Paul the Apostle writes Timothy, his son in the ministry in 2 Timothy 2:14-26, “Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”
Pastor Steven J. Cole laments, “Preaching has fallen on hard times. Even many pastors do not believe in the relevancy of preaching in our TV age, where people have developed shorter attention spans. They contend that we ought to abandon doctrinal sermons in favor of more emotional forms of communication, such as drama and storytelling.”[8]
Sound preaching of the Bible is important for every generation to hear.
Conclusion
The old Puritan writer Thomas Watson (1620-1686) declared, “It was by the ear, by our first parents listening to the serpent, that we lost paradise; and it is by the ear, by hearing of the Word, that we get to heaven. ‘ Hear, and your souls shall live.’ (Isaiah 55:3).”[9]
The Apostle Paul declared, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things” (Romans 10:13-15).
When it comes to hearing the word of God beware of loving it without living it.
[1]James Merritt, “Pastoral Leadership in a Postmodern World”, 2 Timothy 4, Dr. Merritt delivered this sermon during a PreachingPoints Conference on the Union University campus in February 2003, Available from: http://www.uu.edu/centers/rglee/fellows/fall03/merritt.htm Accessed: 08/21/11
[2]Adrian Rogers, The Secret of Supernatural Living, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985), p. 54
[3]John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New (London: Mathews and Leigh, 1810), commentary on 2 Peter 2:5
[4]John A. Broadus, A Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons (London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co., 1874), p. 1
[5]Mark Twain, Comical hits by famous wits: comprising wit, humor, pathos, ridicule, satire, editor Melville De Lancey Landon (Chicago: Thompson & Thomas, 1900), p. 365
[6]James Merritt, “Pastoral Leadership in a Postmodern World”, 2 Timothy 4, Dr. Merritt delivered this sermon during a PreachingPoints Conference on the Union University campus in February 2003, Available from: http://www.uu.edu/centers/rglee/fellows/fall03/merritt.htm Accessed: 08/21/11
[7]James Merritt, “Pastoral Leadership in a Postmodern World”, 2 Timothy 4, Dr. Merritt delivered this sermon during a PreachingPoints Conference on the Union University campus in February 2003, Available from: http://www.uu.edu/centers/rglee/fellows/fall03/merritt.htm Accessed: 08/21/11
[8]Steven J. Cole, “Why Preaching is Essential” (2 Timothy 4:1-5) March 15, 1998, Available from: http://www.fcfonline.org/content/1/sermons/031598m.pdf Accessed: 03/15/11
[9]Thomas Watson, The Lord's Prayer [First published as part of A Body of Practical Divinity, 1692 - The Fourth Edition (Glasgow: Archibald Ingram, James Dichman, John Hamilton, and John Glassford, Merchants in Glasgow, MDCCXLI - 1741) The Second Petition in the Lord's Prayer, (part 3), number 16, Available from: http://www.gracegems.org/Watson/lords_prayer5.htm Accessed: 03/15/11