Preaching and Preachers

The Preachertold this man to do this He would also have told Mr. Spurgeon. TheHoly Spirit always acts in an orderly manner.This is a most subtle matter. One's nature, or one's ambition, orone's liking for particular offices,or particular tasks, may create in onea desire to be a preacher, and we persuade ourselves that this is theSpirit of God leading us. I have known this happen many times; andone of the most painful tasks that ever confronts a minister is to discouragea man who comes to him in that way. On what grounds doeshe discourage him? There are certain tests which he must apply, andthe same applies to the Church. What does the Church look for in aman who says that he is called to be a preacher? Obviously she mustlook for something exceptional in him. He must be a Christian ofcourse, but there must be something more, there must be somethingadditional.What do you look for? Well, you remember how in Acts 6, even inthe matter of appointing deacons, who were simply to handle afinancial problem, a charitable matter of feeding widows, it wasinsisted upon that they should be men 'filled with the Spirit'. That isthe first and the greatest qualification. You are entitled to look for anunusual degree of spirituality, and this must come first because of thenature of the task. In addition you are entitled to look for a degree ofassurance with respect to his knowledge of the Truth and his relationshipto it. It is surely clear that ifhe is a man who is always strugglingwith problems and difficulties and perplexities himself, and trying todiscover truth, or ifhe is so uncertain that he is always influenced bythe last book he reads, and is 'carried about by every wind of doctrine'and every new theological fashion, it is clear that he is ipso facto a manwho is not called to the ministry. A man who has great problems himselfand is in a state of perplexity is clearly not one who is fitted to bea preacher, because he willbe preaching to people with problems andhis primary function'is to help them to deal with them. 'How can theblind lead the blind?' is our Lord's own question in such a situation.The preacher then must be a man who is characterised by spiritualityin an unusual degree, and a man who has arrived at a settled assured1°9