Nobody Else Is Worthy

What is this page about?

A pulpit is the place in a church where the preacher stands to speak. Over many years, the man who writes this site wrote down things he heard preachers say from the pulpit. They come from different preachers. This page does not say who said them. Please do not try to guess.

The writer asks three questions.

1. What do these words show about how a preacher sees himself, his work, and his people?
2. How do they compare with what the Bible and the early church teach about church leaders?
3. Does the modern pulpit attract proud people, or reward them?

This page looks at the pattern, not the person.

Six points

1. Almost all the words are about the preacher. His worth, his fame, his family, his success, his special church, and his judgements on other people.
2. In the Bible, a church leader is a servant. Jesus said the greatest must be the servant of all.
3. When Paul boasted, he boasted about being weak. He did not want to boast. He said it was foolish.
4. Putting others down is the worst part. So is saying “God told me” about another person. Nobody can check it.
5. The early church knew that preachers love praise. So it made rules to keep preachers under other leaders.
6. Where these rules are missing, pride is rewarded. But nobody has shown that more proud people become preachers than other workers.

What the preachers said

Here are some of the sayings. Some are the exact words. Others are the meaning, in the writer’s words.

About themselves

• A music leader said, “Nobody else is worthy to sing these words. You should sing them yourself.”
• Millions of people around the world sing his songs.
• “My mother was very spiritual. Everyone said that we were spiritual.”
• “My mother prayed for many hours each day. My excellent service to the Lord comes from this.”
• “I never had to deal with ordinary problems like getting a visa. I did not have to struggle like other people.”
• “I have made converts in a place where many missionaries died.”
• “Everybody tells me our church is special. No one else does what we do.”
• “I was the only one who kept the church open in Covid. The others were afraid.”

About other people

• He said other songwriters are like a pig that has many babies of little value.
• About songs on God’s comfort: “You have turned the Lord of Hosts into a nanny!”
• He told the church how he corrected a woman about her music video. At the end of his story, she says, “Sir, you have opened my eyes!”
• “I am not like this other preacher. He should not preach at all.”

Using God’s name

• “God told me clearly that this man who worked for me does not really have a call from God.”
• He said that the prophet Samuel’s words never failed, and hinted that his own words will not fail either.

About money

• “We have never lost a penny to fraud.” He said this at a time when there were signs that the church may have been cheated. This page does not say what really happened.

A leader is a servant

Jesus’ followers often argued about who was the greatest. Jesus said:

But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever of you wants to become first among you shall be bondservant of all. For the Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:43–45 · World English Bible

In simple words: If you want to be great, you must serve others. Jesus himself came to serve, and to give his life for many people.

Paul wrote: “we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord” (2 Corinthians 4:5). John the Baptist said about Jesus: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Peter told church leaders not to act like lords over the people (1 Peter 5:3).

Once, a crowd wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods. They were very upset. They ran into the crowd and said, “We are only men, like you” (Acts 14:15, in simple words).

How Paul boasted

Paul did boast once, in a long letter to the church in Corinth. But he did not want to. Some false teachers were boasting, and the church believed them. So Paul said: “I will be a fool and boast too.”

Then Paul boasted about strange things. He was beaten many times. He was put in prison. His ship sank three times. He was hungry, cold and tired. Once he escaped from a city in a basket, through a hole in the wall. He wrote: if I must boast, I will boast about the things that show I am weak (2 Corinthians 11:30, in simple words). God told him:

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9 · World English Bible

In simple words: My kindness is enough for you. My power shows best when you are weak.

Some preachers said, “I did not have to struggle like others,” and “I made converts where others failed.” Paul said the opposite. He boasted about his struggles. And about his own work he said:

I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 · World English Bible

In simple words: Paul and Apollos did the work, like farmers. But God made the plants grow. So the farmers are not important. God is.

Also, if many missionaries died in a place, they did important work there first. Jesus said that other people work hard, and later someone else gathers the harvest (John 4:38).

Who gives the praise?

The Bible says good things about a godly family. Paul wrote to his young friend Timothy about the faith of Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5). But look: Paul said this about Timothy. Timothy did not say it about himself. The Bible says:

Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth.

Proverbs 27:2 · World English Bible

In simple words: Let other people praise you. Do not praise yourself.

Putting other people down

Jesus told a story about a proud religious man, a Pharisee. He prayed:

God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men.

Luke 18:11 · World English Bible

In simple words: God, thank you that I am better than other people.

Jesus said that God did not accept this man. Some preachers talk in the same way: “No one else does what we do.” “I was the only one who was brave.” “I am not like this other preacher.”

How should a church leader talk about other Christians? The Bible is clear.

• “Who are you who judge another’s servant?” (Romans 14:4). Other Christians belong to God, not to us.
• Some men preached about Jesus because they were jealous of Paul. But Paul said: “Christ is proclaimed. I rejoice in this, yes, and will rejoice” (Philippians 1:18).
• Jesus’ followers stopped a man because he was not in their group. Jesus said, “Do not stop him” (Mark 9:39, in simple words).
• If someone does wrong, speak to him alone first (Matthew 18:15). Be gentle (Galatians 6:1).

The Bible also tells us about a church leader called Diotrephes. He loved to be first. He said bad things about other Christians. He did not welcome visitors, and he threw people out of the church (3 John 9–10).

God comforts like a mother

One preacher laughed at songs about God’s comfort. He said, “You have turned the Lord of Hosts into a nanny!”

Some songs are weak, and that is fair to say. But the Bible itself puts God’s power and God’s comfort together. In the book of Isaiah, the Lord of Hosts says, “I am the one who comforts you” (Isaiah 51:12–15, in simple words). And:

As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.

Isaiah 66:13 · World English Bible

In simple words: I will comfort you like a mother comforts her child.

Isaiah also says that God carries his lambs close to his heart (Isaiah 40:11). Jesus said that he wanted to gather his people like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Matthew 23:37).

“God told me”

One preacher said, “God told me clearly that this man’s call is false.” The man used to work for him.

The problem is this: nobody can check it. There is no Bible verse, no event and no record that could show it is wrong. But the Bible tells us to check what people say in God’s name:

Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 · World English Bible

In simple words: Check everything. Keep what is good.

Another preacher said that the prophet Samuel’s words never “fell to the ground”, and he hinted that his own words are the same. Here is the verse:

Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.

1 Samuel 3:19 · World English Bible

In simple words: Samuel grew up. God was with him. God made everything Samuel said come true.

Look carefully. Samuel did not say this about himself. The writer of the book said it. And it says that God did it. People knew it was true because they saw it happen.

Telling the truth about money

One preacher said, “We have never lost a penny to fraud.” But there were signs that the church may have been cheated. This page does not say what really happened.

Being cheated is not a sin. It can happen to anyone. But hiding it is a choice. The Bible says that a person who hides his wrongs will not do well, but a person who admits them will find mercy (Proverbs 28:13, in simple words). Paul was very careful with money that people gave. He wanted to be honest before God and also before people (2 Corinthians 8:21).

What the early church knew

The Bible says that a new Christian should not become a church leader:

not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

1 Timothy 3:6 · World English Bible

In simple words: A new Christian should not lead the church. He may become proud, and fall like the devil fell.

Great preachers of the early church knew this danger well. John Chrysostom lived about 1,600 years ago. He wrote that he did not know any man who was not pleased when people praised him. Gregory the Great wrote that after a good sermon, a preacher secretly enjoys showing off.

So the church made rules. These rules kept the preacher under other leaders:

• A bishop or a group of church leaders could correct the preacher, or remove him.
• Other people chose the preacher. He did not choose himself.
• He made public promises to teach the church’s faith.
• The creed (a short statement of faith) showed what he must teach.
• The church service was about Jesus, not about the preacher.

These rules did not make anyone humble. But they kept the job bigger than the man, and they gave the people someone to go to.

What about today?

In some churches today these rules are missing. Then some things can happen:

• A church grows if people like the preacher. So the preacher talks about himself.
• The preacher started the church. The church’s name and songs are like his own. So bad news about the church is bad news about him.
• Nobody outside the church can correct him.
• People who disagree leave. The people who stay are the people who admire him.
• “God told me” ends every argument.

Does the pulpit attract more proud people than other jobs? Maybe. But nobody has shown it. One famous number said that almost one in three pastors had a narcissistic disorder. That number came from a book that was later taken off sale, because the study was not done correctly.

What the other side says

Some Christians disagree with this page. They have good points.

• Paul did say that he was not less than the greatest apostles (2 Corinthians 11:5).
• Jesus used strong words about religious leaders. Paul did too.
• It is good to tell the church what God has done (Acts 14:27).
• Preachers make jokes. A joke can sound bad when it is written down years later.
• People remember the bad things. Thousands of humble pastors are never noticed.
• All people are tempted to be proud, not only preachers.

This page agrees with much of this. But look closely:

• Paul did not want to boast. He said it was foolish. He boasted about being weak. And he finished, “though I am nothing” (2 Corinthians 12:11, in simple words).
• Jesus used strong words against powerful leaders who hurt people. He did not use them against other people’s songs.
• When Paul told the church what happened, he said what God had done.
• Jokes and lost memories are why this page names no one and looks only at the pattern.

What does this show?

It does not show:

• that any preacher is a narcissist
• that preachers are prouder than other people
• what God thinks of any person

It does show:

• that these sayings are mostly about the preacher, not about Jesus
• that the Bible teaches leaders to serve, to boast only about weakness, and to speak kindly of others
• that the early church made rules to stop a preacher’s pride from growing

Questions to ask about what you hear

1. Who is the hero of this sentence: Jesus, or the speaker?
2. If someone is praised, is it another person, not the speaker?
3. If he talks about other Christians, is he kind?
4. If he says “God told me”, can anyone check it?
5. If there is bad news, does he tell the truth?

Check it yourself

1. Read 2 Corinthians 11 and 12. What does Paul boast about?
2. Read Mark 10:35–45. What does Jesus say about being great?
3. Read Luke 18:9–14. Why did God not accept the Pharisee?
4. Read Isaiah 40:1–11. How does God show his strength and his gentle care?
5. Listen to the next sermon you hear. For each sentence about the preacher, ask: is this about his weakness, or about how great he is?