Changi Chapel

The sincerity of a preacher has two aspects: he means what he says when in the pulpit and he practices what he preaches when out of it.

In fact, these things belong inevitably together since, as Richard Baxter put it, "he that means as he speaks will surely do as he speaks."

Paul told Timothy and Titus to be models of Christian behavior. Peter similarly instructed the elders, instead of domineering, to be "examples of the flock."

The emphasis is plain. Communication is by symbol as well as speech. For "a man cannot only preach, he must also live. And the life that he lives, with all its little peculiarities, is one of two things: either it emasculates his preaching or it gives it flesh and blood."

We cannot hide what we are. Indeed, what we are speaks as plainly as what we say. When these two voices blend, the impact of the message is doubled.

But when they contradict each other, even the positive witness of the one is negatived by the other.

This was the case with the man Spurgeon describes as a good preacher but a bad Christian.

Jesus called the Pharisees whose "talk didn’t match their walk" white-washed tombs* – will that be true of us?

John Stott
Author/Bible Teacher/Pastor

*Matt 23:27


© John Stott