Wearing Flip-Flops While Racing Against A Ferrari

I suppose it is impossible that a follower of the Christ will not have spent long in the assembly of the righteous before he encounters a preacher who is bombastic and combative. Preachers that gloat and boast are advanced to such positions without the warrant of Scripture. The people of God must be cautious about whom they promote to eldership, recalling the words of the Apostle Paul who has instructed us, “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” [TITUS 1:5-9]. If debauchery, or drunkenness, or a pugnacious nature are sinful, then we must recognise that arrogance is just as sinful. For an elder to be arrogant is every bit as wicked as for an elder to be violent or greedy for gain. Arrogance in the man of God is wicked, resulting in nothing good for the Faith.

We will do well to recall the words of Peter as recorded in his second letter. “Above all, understand this: In the last days blatant scoffers will come, being propelled by their own evil urges and saying, ‘Where is his promised return? For ever since our ancestors died, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately suppress this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water. Through these things the world existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water. But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

“Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare” [2 PETER 3:3-10 NET BIBLE].

I have stated these things to bring us to the understanding that the prophets were a product of their generation. And those who preach prophetically today are a product of their generation; they speak to those among whom they live. The true prophet is always distressed at wickedness because he understands the high cost of sinful behaviour. Because his heart is broken, and because he knows the righteousness of God, he is grieved for what he must say and the consequences of judgement. The one who preaches prophetically will find a deep accord with the heart of Jeremiah.