The Priority of Doctrinal
Preaching
By: Earnest
Reisinger
The volumes that have been
written in order to show and teach ministers how to
preach are enough to make a small library--we all have
plenty of books on the subject. In this little article I
only purpose to touch one branch of the subject, and
that is Direct Doctrinal Preaching.
Doctrinal preaching is the
foundation of all true Christian experience. Without a
sound doctrinal foundation Christian experience is like
cut flowers stuck in the ground--they soon wither and
die. Doctrinal truth is not only the foundation but also
the superstructure of all true biblical preaching.
Christian doctrines are
nothing less than the truths of Christianity. The Bible
emphasizes that "all Scripture is profitable for
doctrine."
Generally, the objection
to preaching doctrine has reference to those doctrines
which the objector dislikes.
All Christian affections
and purposes are inspired by a view of Christian truth
(doctrine). There are no Christian truths (doctrines)
which, if presented in their due proportions and
surroundings, do not tend to nourish some holy
affections. There can be no doubt, therefore, that it is
a fundamental part of true biblical preaching. It is the
preacher's duty to make these truths clearly understood
as the very condition of true faith, holy living and
whatever is involved in right practice.
Doctrinal preaching is
sometimes stigmatized as dull, dead and unprofitable. It
is referred to as the offering of dry bones to souls
craving pure milk and meat of the word. We do not deny
that there may be some doctrinal preaching that deserves
this charge, however, it is not the doctrinal content,
but rather the unthoughtful manner in which it is
handled by the preachers. Doctrinal preaching should not
be cold theological lectures or dogmatic polemic
arguments. Doctrine should always be clearly defined and
established and developed in its practical and
experimental context. Therefore, all Christian practice
must be based on correct doctrines and rooted in
Christian principles in order to be that kind which
accompanies salvation. A preacher who attempts to edify
the church without doctrinal instruction is like a
builder attempting to build a house without a good
foundation.
Some may call the
doctrines dry bones. We must ask what kind of a body
would that be which has flesh and blood but has no
bones? Of course, if the preacher presents doctrine in
skeleton nakedness, apart from a vital relationship to
life and experience, it is the fault of the preacher and
not the fault of true doctrinal preaching.
Sound doctrinal preaching
must always be practical and experimental, applied to
the necessity and capacities of the hearers. In fact,
the two should never be separated any more than flesh
and bones should be separated. If they are separated
there is death for sure.
They should always blend
together in order to compliment and establish each
other, and be pervaded by the unction of the Holy One.
The doctrinal preacher
need not be concerned that good people will not attend
to his sermons. I have generally found that good people
will attend if the preacher gives them something to
attend to.
Jesus was a
Doctrinal Preacher
In Mark 1 we learn some
important lessons from the Preacher of preachers--the
wise Master Preacher Himself.
First, we learn that He
prayed before He preached (Mk. 1:13). He was forty days
and nights in the wilderness before he began to preach.
He prayed before He came to Galilee preaching (Mk.
1:14). Note in Mk. 1:35, "Now in the morning, having
risen a long while before daylight, He went out and
departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed."
Immediately after He prayed He said to His followers (v.
38) "Let us go...that I may preach...because for this
purpose I have come...." He stated very clearly His
purpose: "I have come to preach."
In this chapter we can
learn some other important lessons from the Master
Preacher. In 1:22, 27 we learn that He preached with
authority. In 1:41 we learn that he preached with
compassion. But what I wish to emphasize is that He was
a doctrinal preacher. Mk 1:22, "And they were astonished
at His doctrine...." Mk. 1:27, "What new doctrine is
this?" This question tells us plainly that Jesus was a
doctrinal preacher.
When Jesus gave the church
their marching orders preaching was the priority--"Go ye
into all the world and preach" (Mk. 16:15). In Mk. 16:20
we see that they understood His orders--"And they went
forth and preached everywhere"--the priority of
preaching.
Doctrinal Preaching
Must Be Direct
Bishop J.C. Ryle has some
very good advice for all preachers on direct preaching.
Bishop Ryle was First Bishop of Liverpool and was
instrumental in founding twenty-five churches. Doctrine,
experience, and practice based upon and shaped by the
pure word of God were to him the essentials of the
on-going life of the church.
In the book, The
Upper Room, published by Banner
of Truth, there is a chapter called "Simplicity in
Preaching." In this chapter Ryle gives five hints for
attaining simplicity in preaching (I wish all preachers
would study it); the fourth hint will help us in
discussing direct preaching. A quote from his sermon:
The fourth hint is
this: If you wish to preach simply, use a direct
style. What do I mean by this?
I mean the practice and custom of saying "I" and "you."
When a man takes up this style of preaching, he is often
told that he is conceited and egotistical. The result is
that many preachers are never direct, and always think
it very humble and modest and becoming to say "we." But
remember good Bishop Villiers saying that "we" was a
word kings and corporations should use, and they alone,
but that parish clergymen should always talk of "I" and
"you." I endorse that saying with all my heart. I
declare I never can understand what the famous pulpit
"we" means. Does the preacher who all through his sermon
keeps saying "we" mean himself and the bishop? or
himself and the Church? or himself and the congregation?
or himself and the Early Fathers? or himself and the
Reformers? or himself and all the wise men in the world?
or, after all, does he only mean myself, plain "John
Smith" or "Thomas Jones"? If he only means himself, what
earthly reason can he give for using the plural number,
and not saying simply and plainly "I"? When he visits
his parishioners, or sits by a sick-bed, or catechises
his school, or orders bread at the baker's, or meat at
the butcher's, he does not say "we," but "I." Why, then,
I should like to know, can he not say "I" in the pulpit?
What right has he, as a modest man, to speak for any one
but himself? Why not stand up on Sunday and say,
"Reading in the Word of God, I have found a text
containing such things as these, and I come to set them
before you"?
Many people, I am
sure, do not understand what the preacher's "we" means.
The expression leaves them in a kind of fog. If you say,
"I, your rector; I, your vicar; I, the curate of the
parish," come here to talk of something that concerns
your soul, something you should believe, something you
should do--you are at any rate understood. But if you
begin to talk in the vague plural number of what "we"
ought to do, many of your hearers do not know what you
are driving at, and whether you are speaking to yourself
or them. I charge and entreat my younger brethren in the
ministry not to forget this point. Do try to be as
direct as possible. Never
mind what people say of you. In this particular do not
imitate Chalmers, or Melville, or certain other living
pulpit celebrities. Never say "we" when you mean "I."
The more you get into the habit of talking plainly to
the people, in the first person singular, as old Bishop
Latimer did, the simpler will your sermon be, and the
more easily understood.
George Whitefield, the
greatest evangelist that ever set foot on American soil,
had some distinctives that will help us. One author said
of Whitefield's preaching:
·
He
preached a singular, pure gospel--much wheat and little
chaff.
·
It was
preeminently a manifestation of truth. Sin--sins--your
heart--Jesus Christ--the Holy Ghost--absolute need of
repentance, faith, and holiness.
·
His
preaching was singularly lucid and simple.
·
He was
a bold and direct preacher, not that abstract expression
"we." "I have come to speak to you about your souls."
There was a constant vein of application all the way
through the sermon, not a tail piece stuck on at the
end. This is for YOU--YOU--YOU.
·
He was
descriptive. He turned men's ears into eyes.
·
Earnestness marked all his preaching.
·
He
preached with pathos and feeling.
·
The
glory of Whitefield's sermons was in their directness.
William Perkins, one
of the great puritan fathers, in a Treatise, The Art
of Prophesying (preaching) had
a chapter entitled "How To Use And Apply Doctrine".
The ways of application
are chiefly seven, according to the different conditions
of the people, which is seven-fold:
1. UNBELIEVERS, who are
both ignorant and unteachable.
2. SOME ARE TEACHABLE--BUT
YET IGNORANT.
To these men the Catechism must be
delivered. Acts 18:25, Apollos was catechised...in the
way of the Lord. Perkins was very strong on this point.
He said, "The catechism is the doctrine of the
foundation of Christian religion, briefly propounded for
the help of the understanding and memory, in questions
and answers made by lively voice."
The matter therefore, of
the catechism, is the foundation of religion.
3. SOME HAVE
KNOWLEDGE--BUT ARE NOT YET HUMBLED.
In such the
foundation of repentance ought to be stirred up, that is
to say, a certain sorrow which is according to God.
Sorrow according to God, is a grief for sin simply
because it is sin. Under this point Perkins tells how to
use the Law to stir up the heart.
4. SOME ARE
HUMBLED.
"Here we must very diligently consider
whether their humiliation be complete and sound, or but
begun, and but light, or slight; lest that he or they,
receive comfort sooner than is meet, should afterwards
wax more hard, like iron, which being cast into the
furnace, becomes exceedingly hard, after it is once
cold."
In reading Jeremiah,
chapter 6:13, 14, I noted again one of the marks of the
false prophets is just this point, "Even unto the priest
every one dealeth falsely, they have healed also the
hurt of the daughters of my people slightly, saying
peace, peace, when there is no peace."
5. SOME DO BELIEVE.
He
points out how these must be built up (expository
preaching).
6. SOME ARE
FALLEN.
Falling is either in faith or manners.
7. THERE IS A MINGLED
PEOPLE.
If the preacher is aware of these different
kinds of hearers he will be balanced in doctrinal
preaching.
Let me close with a
question from the Larger Catechism:
Question--How is the word
of God to be preached by those that are called
thereunto?
Answer--They that are
called to labor in the ministry of the word, are to
preach sound doctrine, diligently, in season and out of
season; plainly, not in the enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of
power; faithfully, making known the whole counsel of
God: wisely, applying themselves to the necessities and
capacities of the hearers; zealously, with fervent love
to God and the souls of his people; sincerely, aiming at
His glory, and their conversion, edification, and
salvation.
Note carefully the six
areas emphasized in this answer:
1. Diligently--The
Scripture, in speaking of Apollos, who was an eloquent
speaker says, Acts 18:25 (KJV) "This man was instructed
in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit,
he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord,
...."
2. Plainly--1 Cor.
2:4--see the pattern of a faithful minister, "And my
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power."
3. Faithfully--making
known the whole counsel of God (expository).
Jer. 23:28, "He that hath
my Word, let him speak faithfully."
1 Cor. 4:1,2 "Let a man so
account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and
stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is
required in stewards, that a man be found faithful."
4. Wisely--Col. 1:28,
"When we preach, warning every man, and teaching every
man in all wisdom."
5. Zealously--with fervent
love to God, and the souls of His people.
2 Cor. 4:14, "For the love
of Christ constraineth...." This is heavenly fire.
6. Sincerely--2 Cor. 2:17,
"For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God:
but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God
speak we in Christ."
