Preach the word. (2 Timothy 4:2, NIV)
As I often do in the hour following a recent Tour event, I was thumbing through Twitter, looking to see what a number of golf writers were saying about the unfolding of the competition. Because I follow not only writers but also tour players, course architects, and others who know the game, there is no shortage of opinions to be found.
In following the thread of comments about one such opinion—its take is incidental—I came to this single agreeing word from one following reader: “Preach!”
Those who preach have a purposeful calling.Maybe we should laugh that in our increasingly unchurched culture, a remnant as unmistakably churchy as this persists. Not “I agree,” or “well said,” but “preach.” Even the least likely soul to walk into church knows what it means. It’s an urging to keep saying what you’re saying, because what you’re saying needs to be said.
I wonder if this is how you go to church, or otherwise access the truths of God’s word as they are delivered to us by those who faithfully preach it. Do you arrive with an eagerness to hear what will be said and a readiness to encourage the preacher to say more of the same?
Most of us do not. We figure the preacher’s purpose is to preach and our purpose is to politely sit back and listen. We stand up at the end, thank the preacher when we pass him at the door, and maybe cling to a nugget of interest for a day or two.
Sympathies to the preacher whose listeners are so passive. Shame on us if we are those listeners.
In his second letter to Timothy, a younger man who had received ongoing mentorship from Paul in the work of ministry, Paul wrote: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2). That’s a lot of specific direction, addressing practice and method and tone. What it doesn’t leave room for is lackadaisical work. Those who preach have a purposeful calling.
For this reason, those who listen to preaching—you and me—should attend to what is said not just politely but actively. We should recognize the work that the preacher is called to do and (we hope) has been faithful in preparing to do. We don’t have to be “qualified theologians” to give a preacher a proper listen. Rather, we need to be prayerful in our own preparation, expecting God to speak to us through the patient and careful words of the preacher—then we need to turn on our ears with that expectation, ready in season and out of season for what will be said and how it will feed our hearts.
—
Jeff Hopper
June 6, 2018
Copyright 2018 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.