You have been called by God to speak on His behalf. When we preach we are messengers relaying the King's business to His subjects. If we've spent time with the King, we will become more acquainted with the flavor of the words in His letters. We can hear the tone, volume, heat, pace, etc...
This week, let's talk about CONTENT: what words to say when
2 CORINTHIANS 4:1-2
Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
God does not commend attempts to corrupt His word. He does not honor cunning. It is not our job to make sure His subjects like the content of His messages. We often confuse our responsibility to not add to its potential difficulty as a responsibility to shape His words in such a way in order to ensure their reception. But it is not within our jurisdiction to tamper with His words to make the people like the King better.
In other words, we should not meddle with God's message. It is His. The Gospel belongs to God. As messengers and heralds, we are responsible to say what He said. Do not entertain the temptation to tamper with God's Word in order to produce a particular result. Whatever you may accomplish in doing so, it will not be above board.
Our goal is to state the truth openly and to invite everyone to look at the verses we're looking at and come to a different conclusion. Our confidence comes from saying what God said, not from thinking of ways to say things which we imagine will be better received.
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