Pride: The Pitfall of Preachers
We strive for excellence in preaching, and we should--but there are dangers if we succeed.
Did you see the opening battle scene in Saving Private Ryan?
Imagine the most frightening and dangerous terrain from any war movie.
What if pride is the threat and preaching is the mission? Uh-oh, it
looks dangerous:
1. Preaching involves
speaking to others
about their lives. Of course, it can be “we” rather than just “you” (as
if you are the finished product!), but even so, there is massive
temptation to pride when being the dispenser of spiritual input.
2. You
might be effective as a preacher. This doesn’t help because you will
then receive affirmation and even admiration from people helped by your
ministry. Warning!
3. You might be rubbish
as a preacher, but never fear, there are plenty of people who will be
polite and affirm your ministry anyway. False affirmation and feedback
is a frequent feature of church lobbies and doorways.
4. You
might be trained, equipped and well-informed. That might mean numerous
years of high level academic training. Or it might mean you read a book
during preparation. Either way, you may be, or perceive yourself to be,
beyond others in your knowledge. Knowledge
puffs up, careful!
5. Up-front ministry will
get kudos other ministries won’t. So you’re up front in the church.
People will talk to you and about you and they will see you and they
know you. A ridiculously low-level celebrity status awaits everyone who
steps into a pulpit. Warning!
6. What if you see lives change “under your ministry”? That’s a scary thought, since you might think you achieved that.
7. The
enemy would love to see you believing the hype. Was it Spurgeon who was
approached by a congregant and told that was the best sermon she’d ever
heard, only to reply, “The Devil has already told me that.”
8. Public
speaking presents continual opportunity to perform, or as we might say
to children, “show off.” Listen to me, see what I know, watch as I
impress you with my Greek, or cultural awareness, or
translation critique, or ministry experience, or name drop, or …
warning!
9. You are not yet glorified, so
your flesh is still pre-programmed with a prideful operating system. So
you are not immune to any of this.
10. You
may find it hard to have genuine close friendships since you are in a
position of influence, so you will be lonely and vulnerable while
everybody affirms and endorses your spirituality.
11. You
may find yourself, or put yourself, in a separate spiritual category to
everyone else. Sort of a clerical bubble that promises immunity from
spiritual struggle, but guarantees a greater exposure to the attractive
fruit of temptation.
12. There are probably a dozen more reasons that pride may be lurking behind every pew as you stand to preach.
To be honest, I think the terrain looks absolutely
frightening, terrifying, a deadly terrain.
The only way to go there is in absolute reliance on God!
www.pocketpower.org/referrer/342162
Min. Johnathan Hester
