Preachers are human beings just like everybody else is. They can fail just like anybody else can. They don’t walk on water. They bleed when they are cut and cry when they hurt. But that in no way diminishes the value of the preaching of the Word of God.
Isn’t it amazing that fallible human vessels are entrusted with the preaching of the Word of God? For this reason we should give due honor to preachers and pastors. They are called to be holy vessels through whom God can speak to us out of His Word. We should receive preachers as messengers of God. Consider these words of Paul the apostle to the church at Thessalonica:
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God…” (1 Thess. 2:13, KJV).
What is your attitude toward the preaching of the Word when you hear it? Do you just regard the words of the preacher as the words of men? Or do you receive them as the Word of God? The church at Thessalonica did the latter.
The Preaching of the Word–The Word of God or the Words of Men?
The following words form the crucial portion of Paul’s statement above: “you received the Word of God which you heard of us.” In other words, what the church heard Paul and the apostles preaching was the “Word of God.” The premise of the title of this blog post is that the preaching I am referring to is Bible-based preaching. If one’s preaching is not based on the Scriptures, his words are merely the words of men.
Sad but true, some people who are blessed to attend a local church where they hear Bible-based preaching do not embrace it as the Word of God. These come to hear the gospel each week and walk away each week as if God said nothing. I see some people in church playing on their mobile devices or doing other things while the preacher passionately preaches. But when the Word of God is being preached, we should listen with undivided attention.
Why? Because the Word of God is God speaking to us.
It all comes down to what one believes about the Bible. Some people don’t believe it to be the Word of God. Even when they hear biblically-based preaching, they don’t embrace it as the Word of God but the words of men. The power in the Word of God is released only in the lives of those who believe it to be the Word of God.
Copyright © 2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.