I recently had a conversation with a pastor who has lost about fifty pounds. In addition to saying how much better he felt, he talked about how some people seemed to engage with his preaching now who had not done so before. Now, for some of you that may seem a bit shallow, and to some degree it may be. However his experience does point to a reality within the life of any minister: You affect the way that people hear your message.
Before we as pastors and preachers ever open our mouths many assumptions have already been made by those who will be hearing our sermons. A waitress that you shorted on a tip is in attendance and has already turned you off, an elderly lady is engaged because you preached her dear husband’s funeral with care and compassion three weeks ago, and your staff is listening to your sermon based in large part upon the way that you have spoken to them daily in the past five years. In short, who we are has a huge effect on how we are heard.
This is not a new post-modern phenomenon. William Perkins wrote about this reality in the late 1500s in his little book, The Art of Prophesying,
Ordinary people do not distinguish between the ministry and the minister. They are not able to see the importance between the ministry without first assessing the person of the minister. Herod heard John Baptist willingly, not because he was a good minister, but because he was a good man (Mark 6:20). Gregor of Nazianzus strikes the right note again when he says: ‘He that teaches sound doctrine and lives wickedly, reaches with one hand what he knocks away with the other.’ John Chrysostom (347-407), commenting on Matthew 20, says: ‘The doctor of the church by teaching well and by living well instructs the people how they ought to live well; but by living ill he instructs God how to condemn him.’ And again: ‘It is an easy matter to show wisdom in words; teach me to live by your life, this is the best teaching.’ Words to not make as great an impression on the soul as works do.
You may be a great orator and you may be able to give great speeches regardless of your lifestyle, but you will never be a great preacher without a holy life. People are willing to hear truth, but that truth rings hollow when it is not evidenced in your own life. Do not just speak the truths of God’s word, go out of your way to live them out publicly, not for show or admiration, but for the sake of the gospel message you preach. Pastors, be men of God, not hypocrites pushing a truth that you do not practice.
