From the difficulty of preach

"I admonish you before God and Christ Jesus who will judge alive and dead - and by his appearance and by his reign : preach the word, insist, whether the occasion be favorable or not." 2 Timothy 4: 1, 2

"For we do not preach ourselves, but we preach Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus sake." 2 Corinthians 4: 5

Preachers are often tempted to have messages with encouraging and pleasant words to hear. It is true that Christians need to be encouraged. If the preaching of the Word of God is like food, as good as it is !

Sometimes preachers are keen to bring more demanding, more radical messages. They speak of God's grace and love but also of our responsibility to live as truly born-again people, as disciples who follow the Lord. This also corresponds to a need, and many Christians are grateful when presented in a good way.

But it is not enough to say: "It is necessary". Even if the Word contains rules to follow, and even if the Lord tells us to obey his commandments, Christianity does not correspond to the Civil Code. Preaching the Word must always lead to an awareness and a concrete and active position.

The preacher must avoid two defects: give simplistic recipes, magic formulas, stuff that works ; Or, conversely, be content to state general principles, fair ideas just but more or less inapplicable. One is no better than the other. And it is in the Bible itself, the book which it is supposed to present, that the preacher finds the means of avoiding them :

First of all, the preacher preaches the Word, not what he thinks of it, what a chapel says, which will please his audience, which will pass well. And he does it in the holy fear of the God who will judge the living and the dead ! What a solemnity this gives to his preaching ! Then the preacher preaches Christ, not himself ! He is not there to show his knowledge, to show his piety, to impress his audience.

Be careful not to rush open your mouth (Ecc. 1-3). Let those who have the responsibility to preach, either orally or in writing, begin by asking themselves what they preach, and to whom they preach.

Source (To pleasing the Lord)