MINISTRY OF BAD NEWS
Maybe you are curious about my title "ministry of bad news" right now. What do I mean by that? Well, I'm going to talk about two types of preachers, and I want to help you understand something about them, and build a lesson around these two types of ministers. In the ministry of bad news, you have of course the bad news preacher, then secondly you have the finger wagging preacher. You have probably ran into one of them before. Maybe have you been "rebuked" by them before and been hurt by it. Both of them are "highly educated condemners" and "professional down-graders." Unfortunately they think they "rebuke biblically".
According to Luke 8:1, Jesus went to every city and village preaching glad tidings. He preached the glad message! Luke chapter 4 declares that Jesus preached the good news. Acts 10:38 states that he also demonstrated his joyous message by doing good. Jesus succeeded to tell the Samaritan woman every sin she had committed, but still she never felt condemned. The pharisees condemned the adulterous woman, but Jesus said that no one could condemn her, and neither did he. In this blog post I will deal with "how to rebuke" and what "rebuking" really means.
THE BAD NEWS PREACHER
First of all, a true preacher is a messenger of glad tidings - Isa. 52:7, Luke. 8:1, Rom. 10:15. Any preacher that doesn't preach salvation, peace and joy according to these scriptures, is not a preacher. He's a condemner that don't believe in the power of God's grace. The preacher feels like he needs to add something to the gospel "to make people repent". I call those preachers the bad news preachers. They always think that no one will respond to their altar call, unless they threaten people to get a response. They rely on their ability to articulate and preach a good sermon, instead of the the good news and the wonder working power of Jesus, .
These ministers always have something negative to talk about, they always have room for some bad news in their sermons, they always preach on how dark it is and how strong the devil is, and how sinful people are getting. It's doom and gloom from left and right, and no one "seems to want to be saved". The truth is that the bad news have never saved anyone, the message needs to be changed! These preachers knows how to make people shout "preach it" and they think the louder the people shout, the better they preach, the more pleasure they get out of preaching. They basically live on the response of the people, even though how bad they claim that they don't preach for the acceptance of people. Though they are so satisfied with themselves, that they dared to preach such a bold message, they dared to offend people, they dared to stir up something, they dared to preach an uncomfortable sermon, and they feel so good about themselves. I'm not saying that we can't offend people or that we shouldn't preach an uncomfortable message, I'm just going against the negative attitude behind it!
THE FINGER WAGGING PREACHER
He's very similar to the bad news preacher, but this one thinks he got it all together even more. He's the most holy and too anointed to be around the not so popular preachers. His anointing exceeds the anointing of any other preacher, and he always have a "prophetic word" for everyone. He always finger wags! He always have a word of rebuke to the church since he's the mighty man of God.
Let me tell you, no one is a mighty man or woman of God, we are rather normal men and women serving a mighty God! Jesus said about these preachers that they are pushing people away from God, they downgrade people and won't see their plank in their own eyes. Secondly, the finger wagging preachers have totally misunderstood what it really means to rebuke. The finger wagging preacher downgrades people by "rebuking" them, not for the cause of correction, but for the cause of uplifting themselves.
THE TRUTH ABOUT REBUKING:
To rebuke someone, is to correct someone.
Correct means to change something, to successfully take care of a problem. To guide someone on the right path, to simply make things right!
You can't correct a person without restoration, training, building up, encouraging, and comforting. Correction must include all these factors, and it must be done in love, and in the authority of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. That's why Jesus started with encouraging the church of Ephesus before he corrected it. He encouraged their good works, labor, patience and so on. Then he said "Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love." God's correction is all about love! It's to bring you back to your first love. That's why the bible says that God correct whom he loves! That's also why the apostle Paul said that a preacher that can prophesy but don't have love, is nothing. It won't profit him anything! (1 Cor. 13)
To correct someone is to convince:
Tit. 2:15 - Greek meaning: To convict
Hebr. 12:5 - There's no discouragement in rebuking. Same Greek word as above, referring to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, simply knowing what's wrong and right.
Rev. 3:19 - Love is expressed in rebuking. Same Greek word for rebuke as above, that means to convict.
Matt. 18:15 - Jesus said the same thing, to convict your brother if he sins against you
To correct someone is to restore:
Gal. 6:1
To correct someone is to train and make strong:
Pro. 22:6
To correct someone is to encourage:
Col. 2:22
To correct someone is to comfort:
1 Thess. 5:11
