What is the status of message preachers?
What is the status of message preachers from a scriptural perspective?
They will be judged more severely than others
James, the brother of Jesus, tells us:
- Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.[1]
A teacher is entrusted with the crucial task of transmitting the doctrine that binds the church together (see 2 Tim. 2:2). A certain authority and prestige naturally adhers to the teaching ministry. It is not surprising, then, that Christians can be attracted to teaching ministry. Concern about believers coveting this ministry for the wrong reasons lies behind James’ warning: Not many of you should become teachers.
A more literal translation of the Greek would be ‘we shall receive a greater judgment’, the word ‘judgment’ (krima) suggesting the idea of punishment or condemnation. Clearly, James cannot mean that Christian teachers will receive a more severe penalty than other Christians—few, indeed, would become teachers in that case! We should understand him to be saying that the importance of the teaching ministry renders it liable to a closer scrutiny and that failure to discharge the ministry faithfully will bring a correspondingly more severe penalty.
Jesus warned that ‘From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked’ (Luke 12:48). Those who have been given the teaching ‘gift’ bear an awesome responsibility for their exercise of that gift in nurturing people in the faith.
Paul was very much conscious of this responsibility. As he said goodbye to the elders of the Ephesian church, he stressed that he had been faithful to his task as a herald of the gospel: ‘I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God’ (Acts 20:26–27).
As an example of a failure to discharge this responsibility, we may cite the insincere Jewish scribes of whom Jesus said: ‘These men will be punished most severely’ (Mark 12:40). Those who lead others in the faith must be careful that their own lives reflect what they are teaching. Greater knowledge brings with it a greater responsibility to live according to that knowledge. James’ intention is not to dissuade those from teaching who, like himself, have the call and gifts to teach. But he does want to impress upon his readers the seriousness of the ministry and to warn them that it must not be entered into frivolously or for selfish reasons.
Teachers place themselves in greater danger of judgment because the main tool of their ministry is also the part of the body most difficult to control: the tongue. Teachers are especially vulnerable to failures of speech because their role demands that they speak so much. More words mean more errors. As we grow accustomed to public speaking, we can become careless. When asked to offer an opinion, we comply, even if we have scant qualifications and little factual basis.[2]
They are not to lord it over the congregation
Be shepherds of God’s flocke that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be;f not pursuing dishonest gain,g but eager to serve; 3 not lording it overh those entrusted to you, but being examplesi to the flock. [3]
What happens if they cause people to stumble?
Jesus warns in the Gospel of Matthew:
- Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,1 it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.[4]
Footnotes
- ↑ The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jas 3:1.
- ↑ Douglas J. Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, Second edition, vol. 16, The Tyndale Commentary Series (Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2015), 154–155.
- ↑ The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Pe 5:2–3.
- ↑ The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 18:5–6.