Resources/Articles
The Need of a Preacher
And how will they hear without a preacher?
Romans 10.14
Every civilization has had among its most influential people those from the religious realm, who spoke of the future and of matters that required faith in some cause or being, who claimed to have direct contact or access to the unknown. In the Bible, we find those who spoke of the future and who claimed to have a direct revelation from God. For this reason, the character of people is directly linked to preaching.
We find the need for someone to proclaim the message of salvation from Romans 10.14 (i.e., “How can they hear without a preacher?”). Why must there be a preacher involved in conversion? Why did God choose to use people to spread the message (as opposed to just speaking from heaven in such a way that all could hear simultaneously, as we find in John 5.28: “All…shall hear his voice”; and in 1 Thessalonians 4.17: “with a shout”)? Obviously God is capable of speaking in such a way. Yet we find that God communicated only to certain individuals who, in turn, were to communicate his will to the people:
For the Lord does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
Amos 3.7
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
Hebrews 1.1
Prophets were utilized by God from Abel (Luke 11.51; Matthew 11.13) until Joh. From that time, the kingdom of God began to be preached. John preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3.1-2). Following his baptism and temptation, Jesus preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4.17). Jesus then chose the twelve apostles to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 10.7). He sent out seventy others with the instructions to preach: “The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” (Luke 10.1,9).
He told the twelve chosen men that the kingdom would come with power, that the power would come when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1.8), and that the Holy Spirit would come upon them “not many days hence” (Acts 1.5). They were told to not “depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1.4). Whenever this would happen, they would “be witnesses…in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and not the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1.8). On the day of Pentecost, while in Jerusalem, they preached of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Why use these men? Why does the gospel message have to be a “preached” message? Couldn’t God have done it all without humans? Why can man not hear without a preacher?
The answer lies in the fact that GOd’s choice was to utilize man in the dispensing of his will. There is proof of another important fact: Man is capable of understanding God’s communication. God talked with Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, etc. To all these God spoke, and they in turn told others what God had communicated to them.
We also find that God chose Moses to speak to the nation of Israel. Thereafter, many prophets would be utilized. Those prophets had the same responsibility as Moses. They were to faithfully proclaim God’s communication. If not, the convictions of the people would be affected. Their worship and morality would digress. Moses explained this digression in Deuteronomy 13.1-5: “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”
The same is true if “another gospel” is preached (Galatians 1.6-9). Daily life and worship will become corrupt if the message is not faithfully proclaimed. Because of the involvement of humans, all religious convictions are directly linked to that which they hear preached. Herein we see the need for preachers.
Our conversion was affected by and shaped by preaching. Our manner of life to the present has been shaped by preaching. We have made a decision as to what we will accept and what we will reject.
You have decided upon three sources: Yourself, another person, and God. Accordingly, Jesus warned us to take heed what and how we hear (Mark 4.24; Luke 8.18). We can tell truth apart from error if we so desire (John 7.17). As God tested the children of Israel, so we are tested in what we hear preached. Is our faith genuine? Are we hearing the word of God or the word of man? We have the responsibility to investigate what we hear proclaimed (1 Thessalonians 5.21; 1 John 4.1).
