Lip Service by Preachers

Introduction

Last week we discussed how Christians provide lip service to God by living their life the way they want to and yet professing holiness to God, our Father. This week we’ll look at a similar lip service as performed by preachers.

Some will say, “How is this possible?” They see preachers as God’s messengers. And they are as such; that is, they are supposed to be. But we learn differently in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” When man no longer wants to hear the truth, there will be those who will give them what they want not what they need.

Old Testament Prophets

During the time of the prophets, God sent His representatives to His people with the basic message of ‘Repent of your sins and turn back to Me.’ His people, however, saw these men as nothing more than ‘Doom and Gloom’ preachers. They didn’t want to hear about the destruction of man. They wanted to hear about prosperity and how everything is going to be all right.

Isaiah had this problem when he tried to preach a warning about Judah being carried away in captivity. But God knew their heart and told Isaiah of this in Isaiah 30:10-11, Who say to the seers, "Do not see," And to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us."

Even in Ezekiel’s time; when some of the Jews were already carried away to Babylon in captivity, no one wanted to hear the gloom and doom coming from the prophet’s mouth. Instead, they wanted to hear from their own ‘prophets’ they created. Such an example is found in Ezek. 13:18-22. As seen in this passage, these false prophets were giving false information in return for payment of grains or the bread itself. In other words, the people were paying out their livelihood for false hope. In addition, they were killing the true followers of God and allowing the condemned to continue living.

Lip Service Today

These “smooth things” preachers are all over the place today. Just turn on the television; especially on Sunday morning, and you’ll find the same message preached today as in Isaiah’s and Ezekiel’s time. No one wants to hear about their sin or the likelihood of going to Hell. Rather, they want to be built up with a message of hope and good cheer; to make them feel good about themselves as they return to the world on Monday. None of them realize that this type of message is damning their souls because they aren’t hearing the true message of the scripture.

Jesus and the apostles preached the true message of God and for their work, the people had them killed. Remember what Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1-2, If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. If your preacher is telling you how to improve your life on Earth, then you won’t be ready for the afterlife.

Conclusion

Preachers are just men like you and me. This means that they are susceptible to the sins of the world like us. Don’t put them on a pedestal because they telling you what you want to hear, rather have them confirm their message by showing it to you in scripture. You soul is your own and you can’t allow others to save it for you. Search for the truth yourself (Acts 17:11).