Luther said that men are like donkeys--we are either being ridden by God or by Satan. How does Satan invade our lives through preaching? When preachers teach that our efforts have some place in our justification or, more likely, our sanctification.
On The Gospel Coalition, one of the bloggers recently postulated: "What do you do when your preacher isn't John Piper?" He went on to make some good points that we should try to support our preachers and be thankful for them if they espouse the Gospel, even if their preaching is lackluster. Yes and amen, he's correct. But I query: "If your preacher is espousing the Gospel, will you find him to be lackluster?" Perhaps the issue isn't with the delivery of the message, but with the content of the message. In fact, having a dynamic preacher may even be detrimental to the Kingdom of God. Dynamic preachers can divert from radical Grace and, given their popularity, they can't be "called" on it.
If you have read earlier posts, you know that one of my new favorite preachers is Tullian Tchividjian. Tullian is a well-spoken dynamic preacher. But he correctly espouses the Gospel. And, importantly, it wasn't always that way. Tullian said that when he first embraced the message of Grace, it radically changed his love for God. He said that he had a similar radical change a couple of years ago when he came to understand that Grace applies to our sanctification as well as to our justification.
There is no place for teaching about the ethical use of the law in Christianity. Other religions yes, Christianity no. Christian ethical conduct arises not from the law, but from Grace. This is one of the things that makes Christianity different. If we really believe that God loves us just the same when we are sinning, then sin begins to lose its grip on us. Then, our thankfulness to God begins to drive the sin from our lives. But, only Grace and thankfulness give us any freedom from sin. Merely telling us to "do better," even if we desire to do so, never wrought a change in a sinner's heart and, therefore, never wrought a change in our actions.
I listened to one of Tullian's sermons from 2008 last week. It was terrible--from a Gospel standpoint. It was good--from a communication standpoint. Tullian is a dynamic speaker. But Tullian was speaking about how Christians need to live holy lives so that we can spread Christianity. He said that the problem with Christianity is how Christians conduct themselves. Of course, this is one of the problems. But Christians are always going to sin. What needs to be done is--the Gospel needs to be preached in all of its radicality--God loves you the same when you are praying to him as when you are yelling at your spouse.
So, Tullian's preaching, when it wasn't the Gospel, was terrible even though he was a good communicator. Now, it is life-giving. Two of my favorite preachers here in Birmingham are viewed by some as lackluster, but they are two of my favorites, because they without apology proclaim the true Gospel. Their preaching has the power to change hearts, not merely to remonstrate us for our shortcomings or to be "better" Christians.
Praise God for His humble mouthpieces, who courageously proclaim radical Grace.
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