What is a true preacher anyways?
To begin with, let us face the reality that everyone claims to be a true minister from the Lord. They all even claim to be faithful to Scripture. However, if we get closer to the true teaching of the Christian faith, we discern that a true servant of the Most High is anyone whose priority is to preach the true Gospel of Christ, which Apostle Paul describes as “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and raised on the 3rd day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:1-4).” In simple terms, the Gospel narrates the story of the holy God who has reconciled Himself with sinful man through the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Therefore a true minister must follow up His message by telling the Good News of the forgiveness of sins that we can now all get through this Jesus of Nazareth – calling men and women to repentance and faith in Jesus for salvation. That the work of Christ is enough – that we are saved by faith in Christ alone, without any good works or keeping the law, and that true faith will result in a changed lifestyle that has good works as evidence. This is the true doctrine of the Christian faith dear friends.
Therefore, as long as someone has the correct doctrine of the simple Gospel message, regardless of their other doctrinal misunderstanding, and even imperfections, they qualify as a true minister of Christ.
Someone is not a false teacher because they disagree with you
What if someone is right at home with the issue of the Gospel – preaches it without compromise yet at the same time differs in understanding other issues in the Christian faith or at least interprets some verses differently from the rest of the crew? Does that make such an individual a false preacher? Certainly not! I say this because there is a very bad habit of some well-meaning folks who see false teachers in everyone who disagrees with them in some doctrine or those who seem to have a different Bible interpretation than them. Indeed, I am not advocating for obvious twisting of Scripture nor am I validating proven deceivers but I am concerned about godly men and women who have evidently given their lives for the Gospel truth, only to be labeled as false teachers because of their different interpretations of some Bible texts. For example, one may read the Bible and learn that Christ will come before the great tribulation while some may study the same Scripture and understand that the Lord shall appear after the tribulation period. Indeed one of these interpretations may be right or guess what? Both could be wrong. The same can be said about many controversial topics in the Bible such as Calvinism vs. Arminianism or Cessationism vs. Continuanism.
The Bible is a Spiritual Book that is spiritually understood, therefore before you call someone names, first appreciate that it’s a learning process for all of us – none of us can perfectly be right in everything. By the way, what makes you think you are the only one with perfect truth while others are liars in your eyes? Answer: arrogance and pride.
What about moral failure?
What if a truth preacher that we all know is one day caught pants down with one of the ladies in the Church? I use this homely example because such stories abound in our beloved African Church. When that happens, the natural tendency from all of us – on top of disappointment of course – is to completely dismiss that individual into a league of hypocrites and deceivers. I do understand that we have high expectations of our spiritual leaders – that is good, but I think we need to be more gracious before we cast our first stones of condemnation. Before I am misunderstood again, I am never in support of any kind of immorality by anyone. If you know me well, then you know that I am very strict with the fact that all believers have a responsibility and a calling to strive towards holiness, especially those who lead us. However, I do want to come down and acknowledge the weakness of our fleshly nature, which can lead one to find himself doing something that he never intended to do. If that were you, surely you wouldn’t be helped by your fellow soldiers targeting you for one wrong step on the battlefield, would you? Rather you would want to surround yourself with gracious Christian friends who are willing to let you confess your shortcomings and be ready to prayerfully come along with you on your road to restoration. Lest we forget; true Christianity is not at all sinless perfection but it is a constant realization of our weaknesses, mistakes and bad habits that helps us to cling to the grace of Christ as we slowly grow towards the image of our Saviour. Therefore, one is not a false teacher because of one (even two) moral failure(s). On the other hand, a spiritual leader who lives a continuous hidden or open sin lifestyle without remorse or repentance is by default a liar and a false teacher that you must run from.
The end of the matter is this: false teachers are many around us and it is the duty of every true minister to call out, expose and warn about such obvious wolves. On the flip side, let us not rush to label fellow believers as false teachers without any good reason to do so. In fact, in light of the fact that we are all fellow humans and sinners saved-by-grace, declaring someone a false teacher must never be done without tears of concern running down our cheeks. This is the end of this discussion.
Sinothi Ncube
Comments
Post a Comment