PROFITABLE AND UNPROFITABLE PREACHING
If you were to listen to Joel Osteen or Dr. Robert Schuler for a
thousand years, you would not know what true Christianity is. You could have
some understanding of the positive thinking of Abraham Maslow, Norman Vincent
Peale, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and Carl Rogers, but you would have little or
no knowledge of the great truths of the gospel. Have you heard what Adlai
Stevenson said about Dr. Peale? "I find Paul appealing and Peale
appalling." The so-called "positive thinkers" have perverted the
very essence of Christianity.
Paul wrote three letters to young preachers - two to Timothy and
one to Titus. Do Joel Osteen and Robert Schuler ever read and try to follow
Paul's instructions to Timothy and Titus? Paul admonished Titus: "This is
a faithful saying, and these things I will that you affirm constantly, that
they who have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These
things are good and profitable unto men. But avoid foolish questions, and
genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are
unprofitable and vain" (Tit. 3:8-9). Our study today will be devoted to
the theme: "Profitable and Unprofitable Preaching."
Both Timothy and Titus stress great principles which no preacher
who wants God's approval can ignore. Please listen carefully to a few excerpts
from these great books on preaching. "Now the Spirit speaks expressly,
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits, and doctrines of demons; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to
abstain from meats, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of
them who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and
nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is
sanctified by the word of God and prayer" (1 Tim. 4:1-5).
How many preachers on television, including Joel Osteen and Robert
Schuler, have you heard warn about false doctrine? Yet Paul tells us that we
can only be good servants of the Lord if we remind people of these dangers.
"If you put the brethren in remembrance of these things, you shall be a
good minister (or servant) of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith
and of good doctrine, whereunto you have attained" (1 Tim. 4:6).
Constantly copying the "positive thinking" of Norman Vincent Peale
cannot be harmonized with Paul's admonition to Timothy. We not only have to
discuss the positive elements of the gospel; we have to warn of the moral and
spiritual dangers all people face.
How many preachers in modern times have the strength of their
convictions to tell their congregations: "This know, that in the last days
perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers
of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying
the power thereof: from such turn away" (2 Tim. 3: 1-5)? Do the people in
Houston and in California need to hear lessons on these topics? You know they
do and so do all people. Then why do not Joel Osteen and Robert Schuler speak
on these vital issues? Are they afraid to talk on these subjects? Can our
nation become more righteous, more decent and less violent if preachers do not
devote their time to what God says all people desperately need?
2 Timothy 4:1-8 has been called "the preacher's
manifesto." Paul does not call it that, but that seems to be a good
description of what Paul told Timothy. "I charge you therefore before God,
and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his
appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of
season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their
own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But
watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make
full proof of your ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of
my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give unto me at that
day: and not to me only, but unto all them also who love his appearing."
I have some questions on this well-known, but often ignored
passage. What did Paul mean by the expression, "in season and out of
season?" How can we harmonize Paul's charge with politically correct
thinking? Have you noticed that two of the three terms Paul used - reprove,
rebuke and exhort - are negative? This passage reminds me of the commission God
gave to the prophet Jeremiah. "See, I have this day set you over the
nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, to destroy, and
to throw down, to build, and to plant" (Jer.1: 10). Would the religious
world and the secular world change for good if every preacher and every other
religious leader followed Paul's inspired advice and that God gave to Jeremiah?
I have one other question I must ask. What does it mean to
"do the work of an evangelist?" The word "evangelist" is
from the same root word translated "gospel." What are evangelists
supposed to do? They preach the gospel. But do they not also visit the sick and
engage in personal work? Yes, of course, but not as a preacher. They do those
good works as Christians. In his great chapter on the resurrection, Paul tells
the Corinthians of his work. "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the
gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you
stand; by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto
you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures; and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the
twelve" (1 Cor. 15:1-5).
Paul is not inferring that the great facts he mentioned in these
verses constitute the entirety of the gospel. These are fundamental principles
of the gospel, but there is more to the gospel than these facts. Paul also
stressed the way we become Christians and the moral and spiritual values we
must observe. He told the Ephesian elders: "And how I kept back nothing
that was profitable unto you, and have shown you, and have taught you publicly,
and from house to house.... Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am
pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all
the counsel of God" (Acts 20:20, 26-27). Will Joel Osteen, Robert Shuler
and similar positive thinkers be able to make the same statement in the day of
judgment? Do they preach the whole counsel of God?
Before I return to Titus 3, I have two books on preaching I want
to mention briefly. The first of these books, Christ the Controversialist
(Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1970), was written in 1970 by Dr. John R. W.
Stott, a Church of England scholar. I shall read only the first paragraph.
"The title Christ the Controversialist is intended to
indicate not that Jesus was a controversial figure, but that He engaged in
controversy. Many of His public discourses were debates with the contemporary
Palestinian leaders of religion. They did not agree with Him, and He did agree
with them" (p. 7). Should preachers of our generation imitate the
preaching of Jesus?
The second book, The Jesus You Can't Ignore: What You Must
Learn from the Bold Confrontations a/Christ (Nashville: Nelson,
2008), by Dr. John MacArthur, emphasizes that we are in a spiritual warfare.
Dr. MacArthur affirms that the conflict with the religious leaders of Christ's
day "began almost as soon as He entered public ministry and continued
relentlessly until the day He was crucified. In fact, it was the main reason
they conspired to crucify Him" (p. xix of the Introduction). Dr. MacArthur
quotes these words from Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of England's most famous
Baptist preachers: "I never could believe in the Jesus Christ of some
people, for the Christ in whom they believe is simply full of affectionateness
and gentleness, whereas I believe there never was a more splendid specimen of
manhood, even its sternness, than the Savior; and the very lips which declared
that He would not break a bruised reed uttered the most terrible anathemas upon
the Pharisees" (p. xxxvii of the Introduction).
Let us return to Paul's inspired instructions to Titus. "This
is a faithful saying, and these things I will that you affirm constantly."
Charles Williams renders that expression: "It is a message to be trusted,
and I want you to be emphatic about these things." You can know for sure
that Paul would have been distraught with the weak, compromising and
vacillating messages one hears on television. He would not have found the
entertaining preaching of some modern preachers very entertaining. He demanded
that Timothy and all others "preach the word"- preach all of the word
and only the word. Since only the word can save men and build them up in the
most holy faith (Acts 20:32), we must constantly preach the word.
What message did Paul urge Titus to preach? "They who have
believed in God might be careful to maintain good works." Paul does not
define the term, "good works," but we can discern the meaning of good
works by a careful study of the Bible. Please listen to other passages that
encourage all Christians to do good works. The Apostle Peter told the house of
Cornelius: Jesus Christ "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38). Many of
the good works Jesus performed are beyond our ability to duplicate. For
example, Jesus miraculously fed five thousand men plus women and children by
multiplying five loaves and two fish (John 6:9). We cannot do that, but we can
feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty and provide warm clothing for the needy.
Paul concludes his great chapter on the resurrection:
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58). The word "abounding" in this verse
means to go above and beyond the call of duty; to do more than is expected.
Paul uses the word in his discussion of Christian giving. He told the
Corinthians: "Moreover, brethren, we want you to know of the grace
bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; how that in a great trial of affliction
the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of
their liberality.... Therefore, as you abound in everything, in faith, and
utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence... see that you abound in this
grace also" (2 Cor. 8:1-2, 7).
Paul encouraged the Galatians: "And let us not be weary in
well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have
therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who
are of the household of the faith" (Gal. 6:9-10). Hebrews and James
provide some insight into what it means to do good works. The author of Hebrews
urged his brothers and sisters: "Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful
to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Remember them who are in bonds, as bound with them; and them who suffer
adversity, as being yourselves also in the body" (Heb. 13:1-3).
James teaches very plainly: "Pure and undefiled religion
before God and the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" (Jas. 1:27).
James provides an illustration of what it means to help someone. He asked:
"What does it profit, my brethren, if a man say he has faith, and have not
works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of
daily food, and one of you say to them, Depart in peace, be warned and filled;
notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful for the body;
what does it profit? Even so faith, if he has not works, is dead, being
alone" (Jas. 2:14-17). If our faith is not accompanied by good works, our
faith is vain. "But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is
dead" (Jas. 2:20)?
The beautiful little book of 1 John helps us to know what doing
good means. John tells us: "Whoso has this world's goods, and sees his
brother in need, and shuts his heart of compassion from him, how dwells the
love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in
tongue; but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:17-18). John does not
discourage expressions of love. But he is teaching that telling someone of our
love is not adequate. We must demonstrate our love by our behavior.
Last night I heard a preacher on our local cable system say:
"We do not have to work." That view is contrary to everything the
Bible teaches. Of course, we have to work. Does that mean we can earn our
salvation? No, a thousand times no. But if we want to have God's approval, we
must work. Do you remember what the Lord told the church at Ephesus? "I
know your works, and your labor, and your endurance, and how you cannot bear
those who are evil, and you have tried those who say they are apostles, and are
not, but you have found them to be liars" (Rev. 2:2). The word
"labor" literally means to work to the point of exhaustion. Does that
sound to you as if God does not require work from those who would have his
approval?
John also told his readers: "If a man say, I love God, and
hates his brother, he is a liar: for he who loves not his brother whom he has
seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment have we
from him, That he who loves God love his brother also" (1 John 4:20-21).
If we must love our brothers and sisters, how can any preacher insist that we
are saved by grace alone through faith alone? The Apostle Peter lists
"brotherly kindness" as one of the Christian graces we must add (2
Pet. 1:7).
There is much more involved about profitable preaching, but let us
discuss briefly "unprofitable preaching." "But avoid foolish
questions, and genealogies, and contentions and strivings about the law; for
they are unprofitable and vain" (Tit. 3:9). Tragically, many sermons and
Bible classes are wasted over the matters Paul listed in this verse. For
example, I have attended Bible classes where the question, "Where did Cain
get his wife"?, was debated long and hard. I am grateful that I almost
never hear such discussions any more. Have we learned how unprofitable and vain
such discussions are?
In my judgment, more time is wasted by television preachers on the
question, "When is Christ coming back?", than on any other topic.
John Hagee, Jack Van Impe, and similar preachers spend an inordinate amount of
time on this subject. But the Bible tells us that there is no possibility of
our knowing. In his great Sermon on the Mount of Olives, Jesus emphatically
declared: "But of that day and hour no man knows, no, not the angels in
heaven, but my Father only" (Mt. 24:36). Do you know what the word
"only" means? The word "only" excludes every human being in
the past, all people who are now alive and every one who will ever live. Such
speculation is insulting to the Holy Spirit and to all listeners.
Through the centuries there have been arguments over the silliest
things you can imagine. For example, there was a major conflict over how many
angels could sit on the head of a pin. If the debate could be settled one way
or the other, what difference would it make to our lives? There were endless
contentions in the first century over genealogies and controversies over some
facet of the Mosaic covenant. Paul charged Titus: Avoid them. There is too much
we can know to spend our time foolishly on things we cannot know and that would
not do us any good if we did know.
Should we not preach the great truths of the gospel about Jesus
Christ? Should we not emphasize the conversions in the book of Acts? Should we
not stress the good works in which Christians must engage to be acceptable in
the sight of God? We must also refute the false views of Christ and of the
gospel plan of salvation. I am fully aware that many modern theologians think
it is too negative to refute false doctrine. But that is what Christ and the
apostles did. Do we think we know more about preaching than Christ and the
apostles?
I close with these powerful words about preaching from Jude, our
Lord's brother: "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of
the common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you, and exhort you
that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto
the saints" (Jude 3). The word "once" means once for all, once
never to be repeated. Our sacred obligation is to preach that - "faith once
for all delivered to the saints."
Winford
Claiborne
The International Gospel Hour
P.O. Box 118
Fayetteville, TN 37334