Your Brother Daniel
What
should our Preaching and Teaching Look Like?
What should a good
sermon look and feel like? One Christian scholar and Reformed brother answered
the question this way:
· Sermons and Bible studies that focus on “law”
(the demands of Scripture for our obedience), no matter how accurately biblical
in context, tend simply to add to the burden of guilt felt by the average
Christian. A friend of mine calls these sermons “another brick in the backpack”
– you arrive at church knowing five ways in which you are falling short of
God’s standards for your life, and you leave knowing ten ways, doubly burdened.
In my experience such teaching yields little by way of life transformation,
especially in terms of the joy and peace that are supposed to mark the
Christian life.
There is truth in this.
To understand the Bible is to perceive its Christo-centricity. It’s all about
Christ. All the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ:
· For no matter how many promises God has made,
they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the
glory of God. (2 Cor. 1:20)
Jesus also repeatedly
pointed back to show how Scripture is about Him (John 5:39; Luke 24: 25-27;
44-48). Peter (1 Peter 1:10-11) and Paul did likewise (Acts 26:22-23).
Understandably, the
above scholar warns against the do-better-try-harder sermon as unbiblically
burdensome, tending “simply to add to the burden of guilt.” After all, since He
is the One who has secured our grace and forgiveness through the cross,
shouldn’t our teachings be Christ-centered, focusing on His mercy and not the
moralistic, death-dealing requirements of the law? Yes! However, I think that
this assessment requires some modification.
Christ is not only the
mercy of God; He is also the righteousness
of God. He is the all-in- all, embodying the fullness of God (Col. 2:9-10):
· But now apart from the law the righteousness of
God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in
Jesus Christ to all who believe. (Romans 3:21-22)
· It is because of him that you are in Christ
Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness,
holiness and redemption.(1 Cor. 1:30)
However, Christ’s
holiness does not let us off the moral hook. Instead, we too must be holy as He
is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Paul claimed that we must follow God’s unchanging
moral dictates, even though no longer under the law:
· Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not
at all! Rather, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:31)
Having been freed from
the Covenant of the Law doesn’t mean that we are now free to murder and steal.
Instead, we are now freed so that we can live under Christ and bear moral fruit
by the Spirit:
· So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to
the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him
who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For
when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law
were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what
once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new
way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code [the Covenant of
the Law]. (Romans 7:4-6)
Under the headship of
our Savior, we have been reconciled to God, have received the Spirit, and He
has His laws upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34). And these laws are there for
a purpose. They not only instruct us but they also guide us into moral
obedience, and our teaching should reflect the Spirit’s plan.
Consequently, although
Paul’s Pastoral Epistles are Christ-centered, they also law-centered. They require that our teaching and preaching
demand moral holiness. In line with this, Paul insisted that all Scripture “is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16), not just the
parts that emphasized God’s mercy.
He instructed Timothy
to, ”Teach these things” (1 Tim. 4:11). Which things did Paul think that
Timothy should teach? Just things of grace? No:
· For physical training is of some value, but godliness
has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the
life to come. (1 Tim. 4:8)
Paul taught about how
servants and masters should treat one another. Then he instructed Timothy to
teach “these… things”:
· These are the things you are to teach and insist
on…If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of
our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand
nothing. (1 Tim. 6:2-4)
Understandably, it would
have been difficult for servants to obey a harsh master, and so this command
would have provoked feelings of guilt and possibly disdain. However, this
should not be the last word for a Christian. Instead, the guilt should continue
to lead us to Christ, forgiveness, and restoration.
Paul then instructed
Timothy:
· Command those who are rich in this present world
not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but
to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our
enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be
generous and willing to share. (1 Timothy 6:17-18)
These commands were not
to simply be expressed on a personal level but also through teaching and
preaching. It is unthinkable that these moral teachings could not be expressed
in sermons or Bible studies.
In his next letter to
the young pastor Timothy, Paul instructed:
· And the things you have heard me say in the
presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be
qualified to teach others. (2 Tim. 2:2)
Paul didn’t simply teach
Timothy about grace, but also the need
for grace in the face of ubiquitous moral failures. Teaching adherence to the
requirements of the law was central to Paul’s message to Timothy:
· Keep reminding God’s people of these
things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no
value, and only ruins those who listen… Avoid godless chatter, because those
who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly… Flee the evil desires of
youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who
call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Tim. 2:14, 16, 22)
Paul then instructed
Timothy about the lawlessness in the last days when people would no longer be
interested in hearing moral teachings. What was the answer? Teaching a message
consisting only of “God loves you?” No! Preaching Scripture in its fullness would be required:
· Preach the word; be prepared in season and out
of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful
instruction. (2 Tim. 4:2)
This would be a message
that would not only embody encouragement but also moral correction and rebuke!
Paul’s instruction to
Titus about the substance of his teaching was similar – it had to include
moralizing:
· You, however, must teach what is
appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate,
worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in
endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way
they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is
good. (Titus 2:1-3)
However, moralizing must
not be isolated from grace:
· For the grace of God has appeared that offers
salvation to all people. It teaches
us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. (Titus 2:11-12)
“Grace… teaches!” What
does grace teach? “It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness!” The law should
not be taught without the hope of grace; nor should grace be taught without the
requirements of the law and our failures in light of them.
In light of this,
theologian Iain M. Duguid wrote:
· To put it simply, he [Paul] never preached
Ephesians 4-6 (the ethical imperatives) without connecting them to Ephesians
1-3 (the Gospel indicative.) (Is Jesus in
the Old Testament? 12)
Law (requirements) and
grace should not be separated in our teaching and preaching. They are partners
that complement each other. The law highlights the exceeding beauty and
necessity of grace, while grace is the necessary answer to our ubiquitous
failures in light of the teachings of our Savior.
Paul observed that the
law was instrumental in leading us to Christ (Galatians 3:22-24). I think that
the convicting and humbling power of the law continues to show us the relevance
of Christ:
· Now we know that whatever the law says, it says
to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the
whole world held accountable to God.
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works
of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. (Romans
3:19-20)
God continues to humble
us so that He might also exalt us:
· Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to
mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will
lift you up. (James 4:9-10)
Good preaching should
grieve us, but it must also lift us!
Okay, we are no longer under the law. We are under Christ, but even His teachings still humble and provoke
guilt. However, these difficult teachings serve to lead us back to the mercy of
Christ where we again grasp what He accomplished for us on the cross. It is when I am overcome with the sight of my
own sins that the cross appears in its glorious splendor.
Without this, the
God-loves-you message can become insipid and uninspiring. Instead, we need
constant reminders of how much we need
His love and forgiveness. Without these reminders, our preaching might be
casting God’s precious seeds upon hardened ground unprepared to receive them.
I therefore think that
the law still leads us humbly to the cross, while the cross gratefully and
confidently leads us back to the law – a functional and growth-producing
marriage.
