By Jonathan David Faulkner
It
was a bright and sunny Sunday morning as we pulled out of the front parking lot
in front of Evan’s hall. I sat in the back with Angel and Alexandria while
David and his girlfriend Sarah got Fireflight pumping from the front seat. We
proceeded to make the fifteen or twenty minute drive down to Salem Community
Church of the Brethren for my first ever Sunday Morning service. Before we’d
left Campbell I’d asked David to pray over me, when we arrived at the church I
asked Angel to pray over the morning.
I
could feel the nerves rising in my stomach as we set out, sure Fireflight
helped to calm me a bit, but as with any other preaching or speaking engagement
I could feel the nerves coming. I knew that in less than an hour I would be on
stage in front of a congregation of mostly strangers, preaching the Word of
God. My mind was set at ease again upon arrival as we got to meet the
congregation, but again, sitting in the front pew I could feel the weight of
responsibility.
The Weight of Responsibility; The Responsibility of the Word
Preaching
the Word of God is not small manner, in 2 Timothy 2:16 Paul tells the young
pastor; “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who
has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (ESV). Now, in
this particular passage in 2 Timothy Paul is talking about avoiding quarrels and
encouraging unity within the body of believers, but the responsibility is still
there.
Remember
also that Timothy was a young pastor in Ephesus, a town that my advisor here at
Sterling College once called “The New York City of biblical times.” Because
there was a great deal of sin and pagan activities that went on in this Asian
city, and these things, as well as false doctrines (see 2:17-18) that were
causing quarrels in the church, which prompts Paul to encourage and even Exhort
Timothy to seek the word of God, to not stray from it, and to handle it
rightly.
As
we pulled up to Salem that morning, and as I walked up to Christ’s Body that
warm July night I preached there, I felt this weight. I’d felt that weight the
entire week before as I’d been praying and preparing. God was entrusting me
with the words from His mouth, entrusting me with a congregation of His sheep
and so I had a responsibility then to handle rightly the word of God.
When We Don’t Do Our Best: Ignoring the Responsibility
When
we fail to rightly divide the word of God bad things can happen. What do I mean
by this? Consider the example Paul gives of two people in 2:16-17, they were in
fact dividing the body by preaching that the resurrection of the saints had already
taken place. They did not take the whole of scripture into account, if they had
even looked at a scroll at all.
Instead
they preached what they thought the word said, this is called Eisegesis, a type
of biblical interpretation that takes our own meanings and inserts them into
the text when they are not there. This is very dangerous; it has created a large
number of extremely abusive spiritual leaders and deceivers. Scripture was
never meant to be used for our own devices but to be a way for us to know the
will and the ways of God. Therefore it is as heretical as the Pharisees (who
also had their own interpretations of the laws resulting in strict legalism) to
add anything to scripture, especially our own beliefs.
Proverbs
30:5-6 says “Every word of God is pure, he is a shield to those who take refuge
in Him, do not add or take away from it, Lest he rebuke you and you be found a
liar” (ESV). I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do is come into
the thrown room and be called a liar by the Most High God.
Do Your Best: Trusting
God
I
was talking to my mentor one day it was right before our first Love Sterling
meeting where I was serving as Chaplain. I remember wanting to make an impact
on the people who I was going to be addressing, people who, for the most part had
heard me speak somewhere before. I didn’t want to necessarily be the center of
attention but I did want to challenge and encourage them. The advice I got was
to just let go of that desire and remember that it is not us who do the
impacting, but the Holy Spirit.
This
was good advice, something I needed to remember. Sometimes the desire to make a
huge impact, a felt need to say something that will wow the audience or be new
or fresh takes over and becomes the focus of our preaching. But if we
understand and know the word of God then we know that we are simply the vessels
for honorable use (Rom. 9, 2 Tim 2:20). So the goal isn’t to say the next
greatest thing, or to have the best new idea, but to preach the simple and true
word of God.
For
this to happen we must lay down what we want to see out of preaching. These
desires to see lives radically changed for the gospel are good, but they can
cause us to slip into heresy if we are not responding to the weight of the
responsibility that comes with preaching Scripture. If we are not rightly
dividing or handling the word of God then we are ignoring God’s word when we
are told to do our best. We need to trust that God knows what His people need
to hear and will give us exactly what needs to be said.
-
- -
As
we drove away from Salem Community that morning blasting and singing along to
Lecrea, I knew that God had spoken through me, that the message He wanted me to
impart to the people there had been delivered. It wasn’t about the compliments
or the critiques from Alex, Angel, David and Sarah, it was that the holy spirit
showed up and showed off and the words I spoke were His. I didn’t take the
responsibility lightly and God was able to do what He needed to do through me.
So
we must do our best to discover the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to
show ourselves to God as approved workman who are not ashamed of the gospel and
who handle rightly the word of truth. This will help us to bring unity to the
body of Christ as we learn to lead congregations in the way of the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
I
hope that through prayer and meditation you will seek God as you seek to lead
bible studies or even preach on Sunday Mornings, or even in your own quiet time
so that you can be ready to give a testimony to what you believe and why you
believe the truth that you have been so graciously shown.
“The responsibility we have in sharing and
giving the Gospel, means we must be rightly dividing the Word of God.”
All
scriptures taken from ESV Study Bible
Also Available from Jonathan David Faulkner
God's Heart for Those; Good Discipline - Journaling (Personal Blog)
Also Available from 10:31 Life Ministries
A Chosen Generation (1 Peter 2:9): Mediocre Christianity By Angel Edwards
College Commitment: Those Puzzled Athenians-and Us By David Faulkner
To contact or support 10:31 Life Ministries email us at: hi1031.ministries@yahoo.com
To contact Jon email him at: Jonathan@altrocklive.com
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