What’s a preacher to do? Ask ten people and you might very well end up with ten different answers. Even many brethren have a lot of ideas, but often not God’s ideas, regarding the things to expect of the preacher. However, we need not wonder about this. The Bible details “the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim 4:5). What’s a preacher to do? We are taught that he is to…

Preach the Word. A preacher is divinely charged to “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.” (2 Tim. 4:1-2). He must be “ready to preach the gospel…for it is the power of God to salvation…” (Rom. 1:15-16). A good minister of Christ is ready and willing to preach anywhere at any time. Alarmingly, some preach anything and everything but “the word.” We need preachers today who “speak as the oracles of God,” giving book, chapter, and verse for what they say (1 Pet. 4:11) – those who can say, “I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God” (Ac. 20:27).

Study the Word. The evangelist Timothy was instructed to “give attention to reading” (1 Tim. 4:13). A preacher is not to read just anything, he is to “Study…the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). What you hear in a 30-minute sermon or a Bible study is the product of perhaps hours of preparation for that lesson and most certainly years of study which have laid a foundation of knowledge leading up to that point. If a preacher does not spend much time in studying the revealed will of God, he will bring about his own destruction and the destruction of those who heed him (1 Tim. 4:16; Jas. 3:1; 2 Pet. 3:16).

Convert Sinners. Jesus commanded, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them…” (Matt. 28:19). Some seem to have forgotten that the mission of a preacher is to “make disciples.” Without a preacher, one will not hear, believe, and obey that they might be saved (Rom. 10:13-15). To the end of saving souls, a preacher needs to be willing and ready to teach both “publicly and from house to house” (Acts 20:20).

Edify the Saints. The Lord “gave some to be…evangelists…for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-12). Some preachers are wreckers instead of builders. Yet, a godly preacher will work to build up the saints. He will emulate Paul who wrote, “We do all things, beloved, for your edification” (2 Cor. 12:19).

Defend the Truth. Timothy was to “charge some that they teach no other doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:3). Some preachers are afraid to stand against error. Error cannot be tolerated or allowed to stand. A preacher must “be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks” that he might be able to “contend earnestly for the faith” (1 Pet. 3:15; Jude 3).

Set an Example. A preacher is to “be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12). He is, “in all things,” to show himself “to be a pattern of good works” (Tit. 2:7). There are some preachers who ruin any good they might do because of their poor example. A preacher is obviously not perfect (I know that better than anyone), yet he must see the need to behave himself “devoutly and justly and blamelessly” (1 Thess. 2:10).

May a preacher ever be found doing these things, and may the brethren “hold such men in esteem” (Phil. 2:29)!

David Eldridge