It's NOT about YOU!

Another great reminder of the role that we as preachers play on the gospel stage. Unfortunately most of us are arrogant and full of our own delusions of grandeur the majority of the time until someone or something knocks us off our high horse. Because of our propensity to think of ourselves more highly than anyone ought to we become more concerned with our own "performance" and the well wishes and applause of our people rather than remembering that it isn't about us...it's about the gospel.

See the excerpt below from Shurden's journal.

PREACHING:  IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU. IT’S ABOUT THE MUSIC:

South Carolina Preacher Robert Guffey tells of instructions that he received from his band directors in junior high and high school. They would say:

          “Ladies and gentlemen, if you cannot hear the playing of the person beside you, you are playing too loud. This is not about you; it is about the music. It’s not about your ego. If there is a solo in the music for you to play, I’ll let you know. It’s not about whether or not your mother is sitting on the front row and you want to stand out. It’s not about you. It’s about the music.”

I was going to preach for my first time in chapel at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I was nervous, really nervous. The day before the sermon I told ole jubilant, jolly Wayne Ward who had preached in that chapel a hundred times how apprehensive I was. Wayne dismissed it, “Oh, Buddy, you are just worrying about how you are going to do. It is not about you. Rare back and preach to us. Quit worrying about being a hit.”

Almost four decades after Wayne Ward said those words to me, I can truthfully say that I never get up to preach that I do not worry about how I am going to do. I have to keep telling myself, “It is not about me; it is about the music, the gospel that I preach.” My sense is that worrying about how you are going to do is not all bad. It’s just not that important.