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Christian Leadership Training Course

By J.C. Choate

Lesson 8

The Motives for Preaching

The preacher is a very important person when it comes to the Lord’s plan for making known His word to the masses and therefore we need to get to know him better. We need preachers and we need better preachers, and we need to learn to have respect for dedicated preachers. Maybe we can make a contribution toward this end as we give some special time to this subject.

In our last lesson we discussed the matter of becoming a preacher, his calling, and how one becomes a preacher, or a messenger of the Lord. We found that there is nothing miraculous about this, but as one grows to maturity, learns of the Lord and is influenced by His word, then in becoming a Christian and a member of the Lord’s church, the knowledge of the importance of the truth creates in that person the desire to become a preacher. In other words, he wants to preach or teach the gospel to others, both privately and publicly. Or one may be older in life, or converted out of a denominational church where he was a preacher, and now that he understands for the first time what the real truth is, he has a desire to preach that truth, and so he does.

Of course there is much to be said about becoming a preacher. It is not a light matter. We need therefore to think about the motives for preaching. Unless one’s motives are right, he cannot be the preacher God would have him to be.

There are many people who cannot understand why a young man would want to preach. Especially among the poorer classes, they cannot help but think that he is more interested in filling his stomach than he is in saving souls. They are therefore suspicious of his motives and find it very difficult to have much respect for him.

In countries where Christianity is a minority religion, and where there are a lot of poor men who serve as preachers, the local people will often pass these up in favor of the foreign preacher. They see the foreigner as one who has sacrificed greatly in leaving his people, his country, and a better living to come to a poor country to serve the Lord, and therefore they conclude that he loves the Lord and is very dedicated to serving Him and saving souls. That being the case, they are eager to hear him preach God’s word and they are good to respond to his teaching.

But as these local young men grow older, and prove by their years of service, dedication, and sacrifice that they are sincere and as they begin to show some graying hair, the local people are more prone to accept them and to listen to them. So young preachers, in particular, must realize that they must prove themselves. They must show by sincerity and hard work and love of the brethren that they are serious about what they are doing. They must demonstrate that they are not hirelings and hypocrites but that they are truly converted and that they are willing to pay whatever price is necessary to preach the gospel and to serve the Lord. Remember that Jesus said that a person is known by the fruit he bears (Matthew 7:16).

If a young preacher, or an older man for that matter, is preaching merely for the money he may receive, this will become very obvious. Of course it is not a sin for a preacher to receive a salary, since a laborer is worthy of his hire (Luke 10:7), and that is true even in religious work, but if one’s motive is merely to draw a salary, he is wrong, he is an hireling, and he will not be successful in his work. It doesn’t take long for the average person to see why this man is preaching.

Just because one is a young man, a young preacher, that doesn’t mean that he is working only for the material benefits he may receive. He may be as honest and sincere and as dedicated to the Lord as he possibly can be, and naturally he should be, and must be, to please the Lord and to do the work he needs to do. One must begin to preach at some stage in his life and the best time to begin is while one is young. In that way he can study, learn, and get the training he needs before he has gotten his life entangled in sin and perhaps not be able to survive or to overcome the consequences of that way of life. Timothy was a young preacher and he seemed to have had all of the qualities any young preacher would want to emulate. On one occasion, Paul said to Timothy, “Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them; that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself, and to the doctrine. Continue in them: for in doing this you will both save yourself, and those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:12-16). A preacher, especially a young preacher, must always conduct himself in such a way that he will not be refused and despised because of his youth. Rather, by his example in good living and in his zeal for the Lord and His cause, he may be appreciated and respected by all who know him. This should be one’s goal always.

Titus was another young preacher, and Paul wrote to him things that would indicate that he was a good man, one who could be respected and depended on to do a good work. Notice what Paul said, “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience...Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works: in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you” (Titus 2:1,2,6-8). This is the kind of preacher we need today, and young preachers in particular should take note of Paul’s words of advice.

It is possible for preachers to have various ulterior motives such as feeling that the job of preaching is easy, that it pays well, especially if one is receiving foreign support, that there is little or no supervision, that it gives one the opportunity to travel, that he has a position and therefore has an ego and pride, etc. Again, bad motives, wrong motives will destroy. One should preach, having been genuinely converted, having a deep conviction for God’s work, with a love for the Lord and the souls of men, desiring to serve the Lord, being willing if necessary to sacrifice for His cause, and being faithful in all things. These motives will be seen in one’s life and work and will lead such a person to become a great preacher and servant for God.