The Good of Christian Men Preaching

Jay Horsley

Being the first Sunday of the month we will, Lord willing, hear a sermon tonight from brother Bob McCaskill. Next month we hope to hear from Sebastus James and from Robby McCaskill in December. We know that these men are not preachers, but rather a banker, a city employee and a student.

If these men are not preachers then why are the preaching? Why does the church set aside a regular time for them to preach? Why do we encourage men to go to the trouble of getting lessons together and giving them? Aren't the men who preach going to be nervous? Wouldn't it be easier for just let the regular preacher do it?

Here as just some of the reasons for this practice:

1.) Good for the speaker.

– The speaker will gain much more from this than anyone else. With the studying, meditating, organizing, outlining, condensing, rewriting, other preparations, and finally delivering material from God's word the speaking will learn and retain much more than any passive listen ever can. Mediation on God's word is one of the best things we can do. “Rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Thy words. My eyes anticipate the night watches, That I may meditate on Thy word.” (Ps. 119:47,48)

– It is a public expression of faith. It takes courage to stand before a group of people, even friends (maybe moreso friends), and speak with conviction concerning important matters. Faith is strengthened not only by learning God's word but in practicing it as well. “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (Jn. 13:17)

– Obligation to be a teacher. Christians have obligation to teach others. The Hebrews were chastised for not being mature enough to know about difficult things in God's word. “...and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.” (Heb. 5:11,12) The men who participate in this are preparing themselves for, and showing concrete signs of spiritual maturity.

2.) Good for the hearer.

– Its always good to meet together in the Lord. “I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD.” (Ps. 122:1) We all need to study God's word and meet together as often as possible. This is be grievous to us and something to be avoided only if we don't care about the Lord (or if we are trying to shield our guilty conscience while retaining the sin that makes us feel so guilty).

– A change of pace. As much as I enjoy to hear my own preaching (“I speak as if insane” 2 Cor. 11:23) I realize that I will teach in front of the congregation over 200 times each year. It is nice to hear the ancient gospel in a different voice and style occasionally. Variety is said to be the spice of life.

– The preacher may not always be there. In a normal year I'll be gone a minimum of 5 weeks a year on vacation and preaching elsewhere. I have know of congregations larger and older than ours that had to call men from other places and pay them to do all the teaching until their own preacher got back. This is a tragedy. Have those brethren paid so little attention and done so little study over the years? Refer to the Hebrews 5 quote in the paragraph above.

3.) Good for church.

– More knowledgeable members to spread the word and encourage others. In the very early days of the church, when all the Christians were still in Jerusalem a persecution arose. The result was “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4) The members were scattered, not the apostles (Acts 8:12). The church grew tremendously and in many places when the members could all go about preaching, not just the leaders.

– Future leaders prepared. Who will be the men who will preach in the future? Its those who are preaching today. Where will be the elders who are “able to teach” (1 Tim. 3:2) and who can “holding fast the faithful word...that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many rebellious men...” (Tit. 1:8,9) It is those who study and prepare themselves today.

4.) Bad for the nonparticipant.

Here are the excuses given by those who don't want to participate:

– Timidity. “...serve Him without fear” (Luke 1:74)

– Lack of talent. We all have some talents. Read the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30) The servants were not rewarded on how many talents they had, but how they used them. The only one condemned was he who did not use his limited talents at all. “You wicked and lazy slave.” (Matt. 25:26)

– Lack of knowledge. “I just don't know enough to do it.” Read again how beneficial this exercise is for the speaker. Do you truly lack knowledge? Prepare a study of a basic topic (such as faith, or repentance of baptism) so that you might learn more about it. Then you'll be able to teach it to others, both inside and outside the church. Drivers can tell another about the basics of driving a car. Hunters can show you how to use a gun. Fishermen can teach their sons to fish. Is there any excuse for you - a Christian - not to be able to tell someone else how to follow Christ?

Please make sure to attend this evenings singing and worship to hear Bro. McCaskill's sermon from God's word. Come to worship, to learn, and to encourage just as you would for any service, but especially tonight because of his good efforts.