Freedom from Less-Than-Perfect Motives
Craig Brian Larson
October 1, 1997
Several months back I did something during a sermon that afterward unsettled me. In explaining one point, I found myself for some thirty seconds deliberately saying what one man in the congregation wanted to hear. These unplanned comments concerned a doctrine he and I had discussed several times and largely disagreed over. While I did not say anything contrary to my beliefs, unquestionably my primary motivation for saying what I did was to gain his approval by demonstrating our common ground.
Those thirty seconds painfully reminded me how easy it is when preaching to slip into motives unworthy of my calling. Indeed, at some time or another during my ministry, each of the following motivations has passed through my mind:
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The desire to entertain or be humorous for the sake of popularity.
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The desire to impress others, to be liked for what I say, to attract a crowd to my credit.
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The desire to be an eminent preacher or lay the stepping stones for moving to a larger church.
These thoughts are not the norm, but they all make their passes at me.
What distresses me so much about this is I abhor ulterior motives. I know impressing people is a total waste and pleasing God is all that matters. Nonetheless, dark motives arise unbidden, unwelcome, akin to what Paul describes in Romans 7: two drives vie within, the good and the bad, the latter which he hated but could not completely dispel. Like Paul I sometimes feel, "What a wretched man I am!"
Yet when I sense something awry within, I cannot recuse myself from the pulpit, like a judge with a conflict of interest in a case. I must step to the bench every week whatever the state of my motives. How do I avoid a lingering sense of condemnation in my battle for ...
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