Called to Deliver

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  2 Timothy 4:2

Preach – The New Testament gives a clear and concise description of the required actions of a leader of the flock.  The list is short, but powerful.  It begins with this word, keruzon (preach).  If we look at this list, we can easily determine who is playing the role of leader among us.  It’s probably not who you think, but that’s because God’s leaders play by a different set of rules.

Keruzon, the imperative of the verb kerusso, covers the range of announcing, proclaiming and publishing publicly.  This is not devotional studies, prayer meetings or quiet conversations.  This is heralding God’s word in the public arena.  This is marketplace ministry. 

We think of preaching as the sole function of the minister or priest.  This is his or her job, standing before us once a week, delivering a twenty-minute message that is supposed to change our lives for the good.  What has happened to us?  Do you really think that Paul’s instruction to Timothy was about the three-point sermon?  Not a chance!  The gospel of transforming power requires bold presentation.  It is not the sole obligation of the paid professional.  God calls many to deliver His message.  Those whom He gifts with the burden to proclaim the truth fulfill the first criterion of leadership.  No man can be a leader among God’s people unless he is first compelled to proclaim God’s glory. 

John the Baptist was a preacher.  His lifestyle might have been odd by our standards (not by the standards of Israel’s view of a prophet), but his message was exactly what we would expect from a proclaimer of the truth.  Repent!  That is the only message God has for the lost world.  Nothing happens in my relationship with God until I come to terms with repentance.  And no preacher of the Lord can avoid this topic.  If I am called to preach, my message must be power-packed with repentance.  That message never fades.  Saving grace does not lower the bar of repentance.  Luther proclaimed that the life of the believer is one of constant repentance.  Repentance is the life-blood of a relationship with Jesus.  We will never out-grow it and we should never stop announcing it.  The one among you who understands that repentance is the first message to the lost and the last message to the found will be recognized as a shepherd among you. 

Ask yourself who models repentance for you?  Ask yourself who speaks the words of repentance with powerful conviction into your life?  Where do you find your John the Baptist today?  When you recognize the one compelled to speak God’s claim on your soul, follow him!