There’s an old saying:
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
We’ll come back to that in a moment.
Back in the 1990’s the Indianapolis Pacers Basketball Team had been struggling for more than a decade to be a contender in the NBA. With the exception of a couple of years, most of their seasons were lackluster with the team unable to win even half of their games.
Eventually, after firing another coach, they hired a famous basketball player with no coaching experience: Larry Bird.
He took over a team suffering from sluggishness and injuries - and in his 3 years of coaching the team consistently made them a team capable of winning about twice as many games as they lost. Two years they made it to their divisional finals, and his last year as coach saw the Pacers make it all two consecutive Central Division titles in 1999 and 2000, and a berth in the NBA finals in 2000.
Various explanations could explain why the Pacers struggled for all those years, but I’m inclinded to believe that part of the problem could be summed up in the story of a player the team called Roger Rim Shot.
At thirty nine years old Roger was the oldest member of the team. In his long career with the Pacers, he had scored a grand total of two points. During a game in his 5th year with the team, the Pacers were leading by 20 points, there was one second left to play in the 4th quarter and somehow Roger was fouled. He took his foul shots and made both of them.
With those numbers, you might ask how he managed to stay on the team.
Well, it seems that Roger’s uncle Phil had a major food franchise in the arena, and that he also sponsored the team with $15,000 per season. The sponsorship not only gave the Pacers a revenue source, it also came with the stipulation that Roger would always have a place to play on the NBA team. If Roger left for any other reason than his resignation under warm and friendly circumstances, the food company’s contract and the 15,000 were history.
Roger’s first encounter with Larry Bird was to complain that the food vendors were going to be offering Pepsi products for sale in the arena during the upcoming season. He was SO upset that if the decision wasn’t made to switch back to Coca Cola products, then he was going to quit the team, and everybody knew what that would mean.
APPLY Every once in a while an organization can forget why it exists. For a team like the Pacers, who struggled for so long just to exist, money was important factor in their survival. And this reality apparently led the owners to focus on making money at whatever the cost. But that led them to lose sight of their major reason for existing.
What is the main reason a basketball team exists?
They exist to play basketball and win games.
I suspect, the team owners had forgotten the wisdom of that old saying: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
But there are times when an organization can get sidetracked.
And there are times when the church has the same problem.
There are times when the church begins to think their main reason to exist is to:
· Have a large congregation
· Have an entertaining worship service
· Have a dynamic youth program
· Reach out to the poor
· Build a worshipful building
· Etc. etc. etc.
Now, those are good things, and a good church will strive to accomplish those goals.
But those objectives are not the MAIN reasons for a church to exist.
What is the main purpose for any church?
A church exists primarily to obey God. To do what He asks them to do.
If a church doesn’t obey God… it undermines its reason for existing
There are all kinds of churches across the nation who do wonderful things, and experience sizable crowds and are highly regarded in the religious world. But if they’re not careful, they can get focused on doing things that make them look wonderful, and draw the big crowds and gain the respect of people around them and neglect the approval of God.
They can end up getting focused on something other than the “main thing”.
And that “main thing” is obeying God.
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be looking at what the God expects of us as a church when it comes to the role of:
· Preachers
· Elders
· Deacons
· And everyone else
I’ll guarantee you that if our church follows God’s descriptions of these functions within the church, we may not be the biggest congregation around or even the most successful… but we will be the strongest - because we tried to do it God’s way.
Today we’re starting with me - the Preacher.
(Now, don’t answer me just yet – this is a rhetorical question)
What is the “Main thing” that I should be doing?
Is my main thing
· visiting the sick?
· going to the Nursing Homes?
· doing funerals/ performing weddings?
· working with the youth group?
· singing in the quartet?
· changing light bulbs?
No, those are not really the MAIN thing I should focus on.
I do those things, and I enjoy doing them, but they are secondary to my real purpose.
Now (you can answer this question) what is my main purpose as a preacher?
To Preach!!!
That’s right… a preacher’s primary job is to preach. The very name describes what is to be done. Just like a basketball team’s main purpose is to (wait for the audience to respond) play basketball.
This is a critical ministry. Paul tells Timothy:
“Until I come, DEVOTE YOURSELF to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. “ 1 Timothy 4:13
These are the main things he is to do Timothy is to devote himself to these tasks.
We call the men who fill our pulpits “Preachers” or “Evangelists”.
They are preachers because they preach
They are evangelists because they evangelize/ or declare the Good News of Jesus
They are not “reverends” because to “revere” something means to “hold it in awe”.
Now I don’t care how good looking I am (pause and show face in profile) or how skilled I may be (pause) I am not the person you should hold in awe.
Who should we hold in awe?
God! And God alone.
And our preachers are not “Pastors” because, while we do help pastor the church, Biblically that’s not our primary job description.
Just to illustrate: One of our brotherhood’s preachers once interviewed with a wealthy church here in Indiana. When he was interviewed, the congregation’s leadership made it clear they expected their preacher to do their weddings, perform funerals, visit them in the hospital and schedule special events for the congregation… and of course preach.
BUT they didn’t want him out bringing new people into the church. They didn’t want the church to grow. They were quite comfortable being the size they were, and his primary role would be to Pastor them… to serve them.
For all this, they were willing to pay him a very handsome salary as long as he remembered what his main function was to be.
He turned them down.
He didn’t mind working with the Elders to Pastor the congregation but that wasn’t his “main thing”. His “Main Thing” was to do what God had called him to do as a preacher: topreach and help bring people to Christ.
Preachers are called to preach.
This was so important that Paul repeated this charge in the second letter he wrote Timothy:
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” 2 Timothy 4:2
The word “Preach” comes from the Greek word “Kerusso” which literally means “to make a public announcement for a king”.
A preacher is one who announces the message of the King of the Universe. A preacher declares God’s and His will to anyone who will listen.
And God apparently regards this job to be VERY important responsibility.
That’s why Paul stresses to Timothy that he must not neglect his teaching and preaching.
He must not get distracted with other information or responsibilities.
But why should God regard preaching as so important that a preacher should devote himself to it?
Well, Paul tells us right here in I Timothy 4:1-6 (LOOK THERE WITH ME)
“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
IF YOU POINT THESE THINGS OUT to the brothers, YOU WILL BE A GOOD MINISTER of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.”
A Preacher should focus on his preaching and teaching because there’s all kinds of false teachers out there. There are people who are hypocritical liars. Folks who don’t have much of a conscience.
And they are more than willing to
§ teach heresy
§ promote godlessness
§ destroy righteousness
Of course false teachers are often easy to recognize.
Like those guys riding bicycles and wearing white shirts and ties (the Mormons)
Or those folks who carry around the Green Bibles and knock on your door (Jehovah Witnesses).
Then there are the Buddhists, the Hindus, and Muslims.
But oftentimes false teachers are more subtle:
Like the people who sing your favorite form of music. Whether it’s Rock, Country and Western or Pop, there are plenty of popular artists out there who preach a message a good Christian shouldn’t accept.
Or false teachers could be the ones on your favorite TV programs, or favorite movies.
They could teach their heresy in popular books or in the games they create for Xboxes and Playstations.
Or they could be our friends and neighbors. – people you trust – who are more than willing to share their opinion of what you ought to do. But their advice can often be ungodly and immoral.
It doesn’t matter who presents the false doctrine: Paul tells Preachers to point out what is wrong with what they’re saying.
To refute them…rebuke them… and expose them
But a good preacher shouldn’t stop there.
If all a preacher does is tell you what is wrong in this world, they end up being negative influences on people’s lives. A good preacher should not stop by simply saying why false teachers are wrong… they should also point out why God’s ways are better.
Several times in I Timothy 4 Paul tells this young preacher to do focus on that exact truth:
“… EVERYTHING GOD CREATED IS GOOD, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” 1Timothy 4:4
“… physical training is of some value, BUT GODLINESS HAS VALUE FOR ALL THINGS, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” 1Timothy 4:8
And – perhaps most importantly “… we have put our hope in the LIVING God (not a dead god who can’t do anything), who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.” 1 Timothy 4:10
All these Scriptures point out why God’s way is better than the world’s way.
Why God’s doctrine and His thinking is better than the false doctrines.
And the preacher who does his job is one who POINTS these things out.
A preacher’s job is to shape the thinking of the congregation.
He is to shape their thinking so that the congregation knows what good doctrine looks like and begins to see false teaching for what it is.
Now I try to do that every chance I get.
· I do it in people’s homes
· I do it from the pulpit (and then I put my sermons online to share with others)
· I focus on teaching in the Newsletter (at least a couple of articles every month). Too many churches waste their paper on chatty articles when they could be presenting their people with a steady monthly diet of Biblically based teachings.
· I even do it with the quartet, singing songs that glorify God but which also teach good doctrine.
A preacher needs to realize his primary job is to teach and preach every chance he gets.
As Paul told Timothy in II Timothy 4
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” 2 Timothy 4:2
“In season and out of season”? What’s that mean?
It means that a preacher is to preach God’s will whether it’s popular or not.
Every preacher loves it when someone shakes their hands and pats them on the back because they loved what the preacher said. But if a preacher does what he should do, once in a while people will want to slap their faces or kick them in the pants.
(Just by way of clarification - too many preachers feel it is their purpose in life to make church people mad all the time. They forget that they are working with the Bride of Christ, and brides need encouragement at least twice as often as they need correcting).
ILLUS: I was politely asked to leave one church I served because I wasn’t looking the other way when one of their deacons was committing adultery. This became well known in the small community I worked in, and while visiting with a non-Christian businessmen in the community, he shared that he was troubled by the stand I was taking… he didn’t think it was such a big deal
To prove his point he seriously asked me “If you lived in San Francisco, you wouldn’t preach against homosexuality would you?”
Well, if I lived in San Francisco do you think I would do that? (Of course I would).
I’m not called to be popular; I’m called to be faithful.
ILLUS: Evangelist Billy Sunday was known for his bluntness in the pulpit. One time when someone asked him to tone it down, stop offending people.
They said “Stop rubbing the cat’s fur the wrong way.” He replied,
“I’m not changing my preaching,” he responded. “Let the cat turn around!”
God expects His preachers to stand in the pulpit and tell things the way they are.
Preaching God’s Word in God’s way isn’t going to make you popular with men but it will make you powerful for God.
ILLUS: There was once a famous Methodist evangelist named Peter Cartwright was known for his uncompromising preaching. However, one day Andrew Jackson the President of the United States came to worship there.
Cartwright was known for his plain speaking, and the church elders warned him not to offend the President.
But when Cartwright got up to speak, the first words out of his mouth were,
"I understand that President Andrew Jackson is here this morning. I have been requested to be very guarded in my remarks. Let me say this: Andrew Jackson will go to hell if doesn’t repent of his sin!"
The entire congregation gasped with shock.
How could this young preacher dare to offend the tough old general in public? they wondered.
After the service, everyone wondered how the President would respond to Cartwright.
When Andrew Jackson met the preacher at the door he looked at him in the eye and said, "Sir, If I had a regiment of men like you, I could conquer the world!"
CLOSE: To say it another way: if there was a regiment of men in the pulpit like Cartwright had been, the world could be changed. And that’s what God wants for the world to be changed and that calls for men to stand in the pulpits and stand on the street corners of our nation and declare God’s Will
THE CHALLENGE: Now, I love preaching, and I’d like to think I’m making a difference in what I preach and how I preach it. But I’m just one man and I have only so much influence I can make in this world. That’s why I’m convicted of the fact that more men need to rise up and take this challenge.
We’re entering a contentious political season where folks will tell you how important it is to select the right senators and representatives (and I suspect they’re right). But there isn’t a senator or representative – not even a President or King – who has the kind of power to change this world than a simple preacher in the pulpit.
Today you may be a young man of 10, or 15 or 40 or even older that God has been talking to about stepping up to be His man in the pulpit. Maybe today is the day you need to make that decision…
