Preaching Doctrine: Part 2

What we lose when we think that preaching is teaching

Photo by Josh Eckstein on Unsplash

I’ve been having some great conversation with folks commenting in previous posts on preaching, and one thing came up in particular about preaching doctrine. It is very important that we remember that preaching is not teaching.

When we preach, we shepherd people to their Lord, proclaiming the Word to them so that they can draw near to him in the truth. The goal is not merely to pass along information. We are not just lecturing. In a sermon, we are casting people’s eyes to Jesus, so that they can behold him by faith.

This does not, of course, mean that we are not teaching. All preaching will include teaching, but not all teaching is preaching. There is a lot that can be said here, but let me focus on one point about the information we are teaching when we preach.

At the very least, we should be giving people the logic that will help them understand God, the world, their lives, and their calling. We might think of this as the logic of the kingdom. This goes back to my post about “Preacher as Tour Guide.” You are helping them navigate the City of God. You are pushing them into God’s world to really consider if they see the world the way God implores them to.

This means that when we preach doctrine - justification by faith, the Trinity, incarnation, union with Christ, etc. - we are not simply explaining concepts. Rather, you are showing them what reality is like. Remember, true doctrine should illuminate what scripture actually says. If you are preaching on the Trinity, the congregation should be learning how to think of God, themselves, and the world through the biblical language, and not replace it with technical language. We use technical language at times, but we do so that we can use the biblical language faithfully.

I preached Trinity Sunday this year, and in my preparation I considered how the Trinity, as a doctrine, is fundamental to the Gospel. I wanted my congregation to feel the weight of what will happen if we get the Trinity wrong. I’m not shaming them for not knowing enough. I want them to feel the spiritual struggles that arise from not understanding that God is triune.

What might one of those struggles be? Most Christians I meet think that the Father and the Son are not truly one. Put differently, they do not think that “if you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (Jn. 14:8-9). They do believe that God is one on paper, of course, so they would get an A on the theology exam. But deep in their gut, they think Jesus likes them and yet are still convinced that the Father is pissed. This is what it looks like to fail to internalize the doctrine of the Trinity.

So in preaching doctrine, we are not merely trying to help our people know the right answers in the same way as students who merely want to know what content will be on the final exam. Rather, we are helping people understand God, the world, and themselves so that they can walk with him in truth.

Here is my sermon on the Trinity for those who are interested:

If we are not pulling the curtain back on how these doctrines make sense of the world and their experience of reality, then two things will happen:

First, the people who are already tempted to be puffed up with knowledge will love our preaching, and will constantly use it as a mirror of their own rightness.

Second, for most, they won’t be able to register the meaningfulness of these truths because they won’t have an actual referent for them in their lives. If we can help them find an actual referent for scripture in how they experience their life, we will actually be helping people navigate their life with the Lord.

Admittedly, doing this won’t necessarily lead to folks being able to articulate doctrine back to us. But that isn’t the goal. I do think that we need spaces for this of course. After all, I am a theologian! There should be spaces for robust catechesis. But even in these spaces we need to make sure we are not teaching for the sake of affirmation alone. We want theological belief to help fund faith, worship, and awe that leads to doxology and not mere restatement.

There are many who can restate doctrinal facts that don’t really understand them. We want something deeper. We want to shape the beliefs of the heart when we shepherd them into the presence of their Lord.

Also, in case you wanted to see the rest of the series on spiritual formation and preaching, here they are:

1. Listen First

2. The Location of a Sermon

3. Preacher as Tour Guide

4. Wielding the Mirror of the Word

5. Shepherding the Conscience

6. Redeeming Your Story

7. Preaching Doctrine