Preaching Truth
. . . Their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage. Jude 16c
There is not much I admire more than a smooth, fluent, charismatic orator. I remember years ago when I was in college our guest speaker was Paul Harvey (ABC News). He spoke for over an hour and I would have sworn that it had not been more than fifteen minutes. I am always intrigued by those men who can persuade, inspire, motivate, and capture the minds of others by the consummate perfection of their rhetoric.
The issue is not that those people have no place. It’s that they have no place in the Church as the proclaimers of God’s holy Word. I am convinced that genuine “preaching” is a supernatural gift from God whereby the Holy Spirit uses a human vehicle to reach through the ears of people the heart of people. And while the Preacher may possess all the rhetorical expertise of the best of orators, it is the message that is different – and primary.
Jude warns the Church that there are those who will stand before them who have a wonderful message, but it is not the Truth revealed in God’s Word. Rather it is that which focuses on the value of humanity, the upward momentum of individual effort, and appeals to the desire we have within us to believe that we can overcome the vicissitudes of life by sheer will power alone. That’s a flattering message.
Warning the Church is critical in the 21st century as well. While we cringe at the prospect of criticizing these “dreamers” (Jude 8) who inhabit pulpits and airwaves, allowing the Church to be wrecked on the “dangerous reef” of human wisdom (Jude 12) is not an option.
John Piper said, “The Gospel does not offer what the unbeliever wants.” The Gospel is an offense to those whose life is caught in the destructive cycles of sin. No matter how much one may wish to be “popular” or to “nurture themselves” (Jude 12) by drawing crowds of people to hear their humanistic philosophy, they violate the very principles of Truth they claim to espouse.
God will ultimately hold those who do such things accountable. (Jude 15) Perhaps He will not hold guiltless those of us who fail to oppose them now.