Introduction
I do not mean that pastors need to be the sole teachers of the church who teach on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and lead the Friday Bible study; few men can sustain such a pace! What I am referring to is the tendency to think of preaching as taking place in one setting and teaching as taking place in another. We might tend to view preaching as what takes place behind the pulpit and teaching what takes place in the adult Sunday school room or around a table in a coffee shop. But what I just described is not what I have in mind when I write about preachers taking time to teach. What I have in mind is a more intentional and special use of the craft of preaching to carefully shape the minds of Sunday worshipers.
Types of Preachers
In my experience, preachers usually fall into one of two general categories. The first is the “herald” type of preacher who is great at the “thus saith the Lord” type of instruction but struggles to get practical. This type of preacher excels in exegesis and technical expertise but often loses his hearers in the weeds so to speak. The other is the “classroom” type of preacher who is down to earth and understandable as a speaker but struggles to get deep into the text, often emphasizing general observations over exegetical facets. Obviously, we could create a third category of “perfect preacher” who excels in both areas, and this amalgamation of the two is what I hope to address in this article. No matter which category you fall into as a preacher, you need to construct your sermons carefully and strategically so as to instruct (teach) your congregation. Ephesians 4:11 refers to the office of the pastor in a twofold sense: “pastor-teacher.” We need not forget the “teaching” part of that description! We also read in I Timothy that one of the qualifications for an elder is that he is “able to teach.” In their haste to herald the truths of God from the pulpit, pastors must not abandon the responsibility to use their pulpit ministry to instruct their people in the things of God. With this in mind, I would like to focus on three specific ways that pastors can focus on their teaching ministry using their Sunday sermons. In addition, I will share some ways that I have attempted this during my own preaching ministry. In this first of what I anticipate will be a three-part series, I will address the first way preachers can use their sermons to teach, and deal with the remaining two ideas in consecutive articles.
Give Tangible Next Steps
A first recommendation for using sermons to teach is to give tangible next steps. What is the purpose of a sermon? You could answer that a sermon is to declare the Word of the Lord, help people see God, and instruct believers in the teachings of Christ. While that might be an accurate answer, it is not a complete one. Many preachers preach for similar goals as the ones mentioned. Their goal is to declare God’s Word, introduce people to God, and instruct believers in His teaching. While this is a noble goal for preaching, I would argue that preaching must not stop there. I would say if all we do is show people what God says, we are in danger of creating and type of culture that is built on head knowledge but has not been transformed by that knowledge. We must not settle for helping our people to merely know facts about God from His Word. Scripture teaches that the demons themselves know and believe these things. What I am trying to show is the difference between an informational culture and a transformational culture. One focuses merely on the information. In such a culture, church attendees know a lot of information about God and the Bible. But it is just information—head knowledge. Aside from being able to dominate a game of Bible trivia, head knowledge without action does not do much good. Mere head knowledge does not transform one into a vibrant follower of Jesus! The Pharisees are a great example of what a person looks like when he or she has a head full of knowledge but remains untouched by that knowledge. A transformational culture, on the other hand, emphasizes not just knowledge, but change. It does not stop at knowing facts about God or the Bible but seeks to understand how those facts ought to transform the lives of the hearer.
This type of focus ought to be evident in our preaching. Preacher: preach for transformation, not information. Preach with a change in mind. This is how we can teach while we preach. Do not stop at unpacking a text and declaring it’s meaning, as important as that might be. Show your people what to do with the text. Give them some tangible next steps. Do not leave them with an idea as much as you leave them with a calling: “here is what you need to do based on this text.”
Final Thoughts
This is something I have emphasized in my ministry over the past two or so years. In my sermons, I generally try to include a “next steps” section where I give hearers ideas about how they might apply the text to their lives in the coming week; sometimes I even give them something they can do even before they leave the building. For instance, if a sermon is preached on the topic of the greatness of God, do not end the sermon with a brief “let us praise God for His greatness this week.” Do not just tell; show them how to do it! Ask yourself: “how might they tangibly respond to this text this week?” Using the illustration of a sermon on the greatness of God, a tangible next step would be something like this: “maybe this week you could spend some time alone with your Bible and a journal and write down ten aspects of God’s greatness and thank God for them.” A sermon on evangelism could be met with the next step of “I want you to think of one unbeliever in your life and commit to praying for them every day this week, and then ask another believer to pray with you.” A sermon on the battle with sin could suggest the next step of writing down five “power verses” to memorize for the week pertaining to a specific sin struggle. These are much more tangible applications than simply saying “let us praise God for His greatness” or “Scripture can help you overcome sin.” This is what I mean by using sermons to teach. This is how preachers can maximize the impact of their sermons to not just preach but teach. This is a shift from telling to showing, and it is a shift from an informational culture to a transformational one. Pastors, when you preach, make sure you teach by providing your listeners with tangible next steps that they can work towards in their spiritual lives!
